Wing And A Scare
by SnowLucario
Summary: This is an AU. A 16-year-old human and his girlfriend are captured by the Cornerian army. They attend the flight academy in order to help in the war against the Anglars. One day, a new student comes along and trouble ensues. What will happen? Read to find out! Wing And A Scare Book I.
1. Prologue

**Hey, guys, I am SnowLucario. I want to say that I will not be adding more to the last chapter of Lorax, at least not at the moment. Maybe it will be added as a bonus chapter at some point, but for now the story is complete.**

 **I will accept new characters at any time. But now, let's get into an explanation of the timeline that I will be using.**

* * *

There were two universes. There was the world of humans, which comprised the planet Earth, the ice planet of Neptune, the desert planet of Venus, the red planet Mars, and others.

And yet there was also the world of furries, which contained Corneria, Venom, and many other planets in between. This world, in the year 200W, was attacked by Andross, and the Star Fox team of mercenaries had to stop this evil scientist.

They took the easy route of Star Fox 64, consisting of Meteo, Fichina, Sector X, Titania, and Bolse. They were very dismayed, however, when they learned that it had only been a robotic Andross that they discovered at the end. And so, the team was forced to go through it all again.

This time, they took the hard route, consisting of Sector Y, Aquas, Zoness, Sector Z, and Area 6. They managed to do it right this time, defeating and killing the real Andross, and the Lylat System was peaceful again for a few years.

Ten years later, however, the Lylat System faced a new threat. In order to combat the rise of the Anglars, they began abducting teenagers from the human world in order to have more soldiers. This is the story of one such male, a boy from a small central Maine town, for whom one Christmas ball went terribly wrong...

* * *

 **It really isn't much of a prologue, but since I have just an iPad and spotty Internet access at the moment, I hope that is understandable.**

 **I hope that you will review, as the more feedback I get, the faster I am likely to write. In addition, please PM me some characters, other teenagers abducted from middle and high schools to serve in the Cornerian military academy.**

 **Happy Thanksgiving! Too bad mine has sucked.**

 **Edit 11/25/16: Rocker on, I saw your review through my Gmail. I would love to PM you, but you need to create an account for that. Then, I can answer all of your questions.**


	2. All The Pretty Girls On A Saturday Night

**The title of this first real chapter comes from lyrics for a song by Fun., one of my favorite bands. Even though I only know a few of their songs, I like all of them.**

 **Wing And A Scare has hit 50 views, which I think is a decent start. I want to get it to have a lot more than that by the end, obviously. I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to post, but I couldn't really write too much the way things were.**

* * *

I am saying this on a recording, after all of this already happened.

Let me tell the story of how my life changed in an extremely weird way. Something that nobody could _ever_ have predicted would happen to me, happened. You might not believe this story, but this is how things went.

My name is Lucas Enfield. I am sixteen years old, and I am going to tell you this tale. I hope that, at the end, you can decide whether you like this policy of the Cornerian army or not, whether you like me or not. It all depends on how deeply you read into this, and into which direction. As I have said, it can be interpreted in multiple different ways.

But, in any case, here is what happened. I suppose that this all started on one December day in small-town Maine, on the evening of my school's holiday ball.

* * *

I was lying in my bed when my alarm clock woke me up. I don't like to sleep late on the weekends, so I set it even then. I always figured that if I woke up late, which was from experience occasionally, I would tend to feel lethargic and nauseous for a few hours after. Plus, it was just embarrassing. Many high school sophomores would not see it that way, but that is how I see it.

I looked at my iPad, which is actually what I used for an alarm clock. Since Apple has built in clock apps for each of their devices, you can expect me to take full advantage of that.

Would you expect _anything_ less from someone with Asperger's and OCD? I wouldn't think so.

According to my iPad, it was 7:11 AM. I had wasted a whole minute since the alarm had brought me out of my slumber. What kind of lazy sloth _was_ I?

Well, it wasn't like it mattered too much, anyway. I was far too excited for that, and yet I still hadn't remembered exactly _why_ I was excited.

Somehow, this was supposed to be a day I was looking forward to. One far more than any other, and yet I was unable to realize what made this such an amazing day to look forward to.

And then it came to me. It was the day of my school's Holiday Ball, which was an annual tradition for those in ninth through twelfth grade (the school went all the way up from sixth, much like Hogwarts).

Sometimes, I wished that I could live in the world of Harry Potter. But _no,_ I had to live in a world where humans could not perform magic.

I just wanted something that wasn't normal to happen. I yearned for something _extraordinary._ And yet, Mama always says to be careful what you wish for, because you never can tell if there is some sort of trap or trick involved.

I just wish that I could have listened to what my own mother told me a little more.

* * *

I managed to get through the rest of the day, despite being very excited indeed, and not wanting to have to wait for the ball. Last year, I had not gone to it, simply because I figured that I had better things to do. This year, though, I was committed to it.

Unlike last year, I was going along with a date. Technically, most students went to the ball without dates; it wasn't discouraged in the least. But I had found someone, this year, who seemed to be a perfect match for me. Her wavy, golden-brown hair, as well as her bright blue eyes, reflected perfectly in mine. She was so friendly that, even though she was popular enough to be a member of the school's clique, she never was.

Contrast that to me, and I was one of the geeks of the school. It wasn't as though I was unpopular, or a target for bullies; on the contrary, my stature (six feet and two inches tall), made me very intimidating if I chose to be. Which I rarely did, simply because I never had a particular reason to.

The ball started at eight in the evening, and it was being held only a mile from my house. My date lived halfway between the two locations, by which I mean my house and the venue.

As my mother helped me adjust my tie for the third time, she said, "Lucas, are you ready for your date?"

I nodded. "I am".

"Remember to talk about what Willow wants to talk about, okay? Not just your own interests".

"Yes, Mom".

"Remember to walk her to the door first, all right?"

"Yes, Mom".

"And remember: This is her first time with a boyfriend as well. So, keep that in mind, won't you?"

"Yes, Mom".

"Good. In that case, you are free to go. Love you" she said, before planting a kiss on my cheek.

"I love you too, Mom" I said back.

After that, I stepped out of the door and began to walk, heading for my date's house. It was colder outside than I was expecting, but by walking at a higher speed than usual I was able to keep myself warm.

The first snow in interior Waldo County had hit hard, and yet it had also melted within a day. I love snow personally, but I can see why some people don't. Maybe, when I'm an adult and have a place of my own, I will feel differently about these things. The town of Swanville frequently closed school in the winter when it got too bad, and yet we were more prepared than most places.

After about nine minutes, I reached the house of Willow Foster, a girl in my English class, as well as Spanish and math. I was looking forward to that moment when I would be able to take her hand in mine and walk to the ball together. Although I had started to sweat a little from walking so fast, but when you have such long legs as mine, who could really blame you for going a little faster than deemed socially acceptable by most people?

Finally, the front door opened. I expected to see Mrs. Foster at the door, but instead it was the girl herself.

Willow was adorned in a long-sleeve, burnt-orange dress. It wasn't my favorite color, but it did go well with her skin. Luckily it wasn't transparent, or else we'd both be expelled from the school, probably.

"Good evening, Miss Foster" I said.

"Good evening, Mr. Enfield" she replied, clearly looking as though she saw no need to be so formal.

"Really, you can just call me Lucas, you know" I said. "It's not like I really want to be known by my last name. Yeah, it's cool and all, but I prefer my first name. Is that okay?"

"Yes, it is, _Lucas._ And you can just call me Willow, then. I don't mind it any more than you do".

We shook hands, even though I hate doing so. It's just an unnecessary way to spread germs, in my opinion. But my mother had told me that I really needed to act "normal" during the date. It wasn't as though she didn't have my best interests at heart, it was just that she wanted me to have my own best interests at heart.

After another twelve minutes of walking, making sure that I didn't get too far ahead of Willow, we finally arrived at the location of the ball. It was being held at the Swanville JCC, which I was familiar with. I had gone to a bunch of kid's groups there even though I am a Gentile, simply because this place was inclusive of everyone. The school, even though they barely had enough money to stay afloat in their current building, had managed to reserve the space of the gym for the dance floor.

"Let's see how this is" I said, before opening the door into the JCC's lobby.

As soon as we were inside the building, Willow gasped. I couldn't blame her, either. The setup was so amazing that any teenage girl in her right mind would be just as enthused as Willow was at that moment.

The lobby, which had a ceiling extending thirty feet above us, had been completely transformed. Since it was the JCC, there was a large ice menorah stuck into the ground. And by ground, I mean fake snow. I remembered reading that fake snow was made out of paper, but it wasn't cold. This snow must have been frozen ice cream, because I saw no other way that it could be so solid, and yet so _cold._

"Hey, Lucas?" she asked me.

I looked over at her. "What were you going to tell me?"

"Do you want to go to the gym now?" she asked me.

I was so busy admiring the ice sculpture that I didn't notice that Willow was tugging on my arm. I realized that, whether I wanted to go to the gym or not, she was going to make me.

"Okay" I said, before she could take me there against my will.

We strode into the gym of the JCC. As soon as we walked in there, two pairs of blue eyes lit up, although I barely managed to notice Willow's. I could barely contain my own awe at the scene that had been set up.

It looked like something from a fairy tale involving a winter wonderland, something like _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,_ or _The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe._ The place was just far too expansive for its own good. I remembered the JCC gym being very big, perhaps thirty yards square, but this scene did make it look a little smaller.

Christmas trees had been set up all over the floor, forming what could be seen as walls of forest. The ground itself had been painted an ice blue color, as if it was ice itself. If I wasn't careful, I could almost convince myself that I was going to fall and break my back. Fake snowdrifts covered the areas with the trees, and it definitely looked convincing to an outsider. The ceiling was probably being reflected by a disco ball or something, because it sure looked like there were fake stars on the ceiling of the gym. Despite the natural darkness due to the winter night and the fact that the lights were off, the whole place was somewhat visible due to lanterns being set up perhaps ten feet apart, much like street lights. A refreshments table had been set up in a central area, surrounding a massive pot of hot chocolate.

In short, it looked like the school had blown its entire math and science budget on just this one event.

"Do you want to go straight to the dance floor, or do you want something else to eat first?" Willow asked me.

"It's cool, I already ate. How about you?"

"I've had dinner as well. Let's dance, Lucas".

I hoped that my face wasn't turning red. "Dance, you say? I'm...not the best dancer, sorry about that".

"It's no problem" Willow said.

Just then, I noticed that three of my friends, all of whom were single, were standing together by one of the lights. They all looked as though they didn't want dates, which was okay with me, and probably Willow as well.

I'm not the best at social cues, but I could tell that she liked me as well. The question was whether or not she loved me.

* * *

Shane, Eric, and Chase were my three best friends at school. They all stood there, casually chatting. None of them seemed too dismayed by the fact that one of their best friends, who also had a date with him, seemed to be crashing their party.

"These are my friends, Willow. Is it okay if we hang with them for a little while?"

"Yeah, it's fine" Willow said.

And so, we stood over with them, and I quickly began to make small talk.

Shane was from a poorer family, who lived in one of the seedier parts of town. His parents were divorced, and his father had fought for custody with a vengeance, while her mother had done the same. In the end, the judge had awarded both parents 50-50 custody, essentially meaning that they both lost. I guess that's what happens. Besides that, though, Shane was a pretty cool dude. He had straight black hair, and always had a hand on his recorder, willing to play any song that one of us suggested, be it popular or otherwise.

Eric was from an upper-class family. He was very much into chess, and he always creamed me whenever I played him during lunch. Maybe I focused too much on my food, but by that logic so did he. He ate just as much as I did, and he wasn't fat, either. We both loved video games, especially Nintendo, and we often discussed one game or another when we weren't playing chess.

Chase was more middle-class, and he was very concerned with his appearance. He was always wearing some sort of pop culture-related shirt or other. Today, he was wearing the Coldplay album cover, with the New Age Flower Of Life design. He was always worried about what he was going to wear tomorrow, as if he didn't have enough shirts already. Of course, he had no shortage of shirts. However, he was so compulsive about it that he might as well have. There were rumors floating around the school that he was a closeted gay male.

Right now, I was going to have a five-way conversation with the three of them and Willow.

"So, Eric, have you beaten Super Mario RPG yet, for the seventh time?" I asked. We both loved that game.

"Not yet, Lucas. I'm still at that boss with the boobs that you hit. Man, I can't believe that they allow that in a Mario game".

"You mean Valentina? She can be hard, but you've got to remember to use those Kerokerocolas to your advantage" I said.

Eric nodded. He was still committed to beating the game without the Lazy Shell. And you didn't even _get_ the Lazy Shell until after you defeated Valentina, so it was kind of futile, his quest to do so.

Just then, another song started up. This was one that I loved, by one of my favorite girl groups on the planet. It was "Shout Out To My Ex" by Little Mix.

"Let's dance!" I said.

We got to the dance floor just as the first stanza was nearing its end.

I took Willow's arm in mine and began swinging her around. I hoped she wouldn't mind this song to dance to. It wasn't like I could control it, but I hoped that she would not become my ex-girlfriend anytime soon. I could see other couples around the room dancing as well.

"I love Little Mix" Willow said.

I felt the same way. I didn't like all of their songs, but I liked the way that they sounded. For the most part, they seemed to be highly catchy girl power anthems. Which I had nothing against, although I have heard that there is a secret formula to how to make a catchy tune.

Right now, even though I was not going to sing it out as flamboyantly as Perrie, Jesy, Jade, and Leigh-Anne did, I was feeling pretty much exactly the same way. My evening was going perfectly so far. I didn't know what, if anything, could possibly go wrong. Perhaps this was naïve of me, but hey, that's just what happens.

Willow was still dancing, and she was looking me in the eyes even more now. I didn't want to kiss her just yet, since I didn't feel ready, but that seemed to be all right, because she wasn't looking too eager to kiss me yet already. We weren't at that stage in our relationship yet.

We'd only been together for about a week, and during that time we had not gone on any "official" dates, be it to a restaurant, to the movie theater, or to anywhere else for that matter. Even so, we were dancing more confidently than many of the couples who had been together for months on the floor. I could tell that they were getting a little jealous of my skill.

Right now, I could tell that we were definitely doing the best of any other couples that night so far. In fact, we were putting the others to shame. The dance floor began getting less and less populated as a result. They just couldn't compete with us. Maybe that sounds a little arrogant, but that was the truth.

In fact, the rest of the song played out over the next two and a half minutes, and the whole time there could not have been more than two or three other couples. Willow and I were really controlling things over on the dance floor, and I was very happy about that. I felt in the zone, like I was _made_ to do this. As if God Himself had decreed that I, Lucas Enfield, was to be a dancer. And yet, that wouldn't have made too much since, because I tripped over my own feet a lot when attempting to do a samba routine.

Maybe, instead of lacking rhythm, I had too much of it.

* * *

Finally, the evening was over, and they were going to announce the title of King and Queen of the ball. This award was only available to those who were at the ball with a date. I had some hopes that I might have won it with Willow. In fact, that was an understatement.

Barring something absolutely ridiculous, I _had_ won the title of Ball King. I could picture the crown on top of my head.

Finally, the principal of my school, Mr. Hartford, was standing in front of a podium, about to give out the award. I could feel my heart pounding very hard, and once again hoped that my skin was its usual tan color instead of turning crimson or pink.

"Voted for by the judges, the winner of Ball Queen and King...is a couple from right here, in Swanville".

Willow clasped my hand in mine so hard that you might have thought she was trying to crush it.

"This couple is none other than Willow Foster and Lucas Enfield. Congratulations to those two!"

The others clapped, although a cluster of the popular clique, the group that Willow prided herself so much on not being a part of, looked pissed. This was not completely justified, in my opinion. Not all of them had brought dates, so I had little or no sympathy for them. You might call that cruel, but I considered them to have brought this entirely upon themselves.

Mr. Hartford presented me with a crown and Willow with a tiara. He placed them squarely on our heads, and we looked at each other, very happy with what we had just done.

I pulled Willow into a bear hug. This night had just gotten even better.

If only my luck could have lasted.

* * *

It was as we were walking home, taking the usual route, that it happened.

"Did you hear that?" Willow asked nervously.

"I didn't" I said, and that was the truth. I don't exactly have owl ears at night.

"I thought it was...some kind of truck, or something".

"Willow, how many trucks are there in Swanville, really?" I asked, a little exasperatedly.

"I don't know, but that's what it sounded like!" she hissed. Then, without warning, she pushed me into a snowbank. Considering I had not been wearing snowpants, I quickly became very wet.

"Why-" I began to ask, but she clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Lucas, they're coming for us. We need to hide".

"Oh" I said. I had thought, oh, I don't know, that she was _trying to mistreat her boyfriend?_

Suddenly, I heard it, too. A chopper was coming in, and I saw that it had a logo on the side. It appeared to be a flying pig of some sort, but that made no sense. Pigs don't fly.

I had only seen it in one place before, and yet I had no reason to believe that it would turn up in real life, too.

"Lucas, what is that?" Willow asked.

Those were the last words she spoke. That is, before she collapsed into the snow. I tried to tap her shoulder to see what had happened, but it was no use.

"She won't wake" a voice said. "And neither will you, if you don't come with us".

"I-" I began to say, but I was cut off by a tranquilizer dart being shot into my lower leg.

I keeled over and lost consciousness.

* * *

 **I hope you guys like the cliffhanger!**

 **This chapter took a little more than two hours to write, not including proofreading. Yes, I proofread this chapter. It might be only 4,000 words long, but it is nearly ten times longer than the last one, so I consider that a good start. I think that the chapter sizes will be different based on what is going on in the plot.**

 **With that, I highly encourage you to review and PM me with any questions you might have. Also, new characters/ situations would be highly appreciated as well.**

 **This update came the very day I wrote it. I'll try to keep at least 4 days between updates if I can help myself, though. If I learned any lesson from Bounding Through Time, this is it. If you update too fast, your story is not going to be that popular.**

 **Credit goes to Peytonhungergameshaymitch for Willow. I really want more characters, guys.**

 **SnowLucario out.**


	3. The Other Side

**Okay, so I would just like to say a few things.**

 **Right now, I hope to have three more flight students submitted by PM, but if you do submit an OC, I expect you to review consistently and tell me if you like the way I am portraying them.**

 **Also, one thing to say is that I just saw Lorax hit 3,724 views. The square root of that number is 62. I just thought that was pretty cool.**

 **Enjoy the chapter, and please don't forget to review!**

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

 _Uhhh...man, this hurts. I wish I could just die or something, so that I could stop feeling this pain. It's the worst headache I've ever had in my life._

Those were my first thoughs as I began to come out of the fog of the tranquilizer. I didn't remember, at first, what had been going on, but then it came back. I'd been on a date with Lucas Enfield, and I'd seen him walk with me back from the school's Christmas ball. And then, I had seen it.

A large chopper with what looked like a flying pig on its hind legs was coming straight for us. I had no doubt in my mind, somehow _knew_ that they were coming for us. I'd shoved Lucas into the snow, and then gotten down after him. I felt something pierce my leg, and that was the last thing that I remembered.

Now, it stood to reason, once I began to be able to think more clearly, that we were in the back of said helicopter. Which, by the way, looked a hell of a lot more spacious on the inside than on the outside. It looked like a private jet, the type that only extremely rich people owned. The floor was covered in wall-to-wall carpeting, beige and extending from one side of the room to the other. On the wall, the same red logo that I had last seen before getting knocked out with the dart was present. Once again, I wondered what that was.

 _Maybe Lucas would know...should I ask him? Is he awake?_

My eyes scanned the room, and then I realized that I was overthinking this. Lucas was right next to me, but he wasn't moving. He was still unconscious from the dart, not having woken up yet. I figured that this meant I had to approach the situation on my own.

Looking around, I saw that something was clipped to my finger. Was that to measure something? The amount of oxygen in my blood or something, right? I was no doctor, but I knew at least _that_ much, to know what the equipment would be used for. I also noticed that there was a heart monitor attached to my wrist. There had to be, since there was a machine next to where I was lying that seemed to be measuring my heart rate.

So, if these people were aiming to kill us, they probably would have done so already. It made no sense to hook us up to all of these monitors, making sure we were alive, and then killing us later when we least expected it. In other words, we probably were not going to be murdered by these people. They had some motive for keeping us alive.

That begged the question, however: _why?_

I tried to puzzle this together, and yet I found myself thinking about my family. My mother, who was only 33 years old, would be left alone to care for my younger siblings, my sister Olive and my brother August (aged 5 and 3, respectively). My father had died the previous year, and my mom had remarried a man named Kyle. While it is true that I did not care particularly much for Kyle, the fact remained that he was my stepfather, and as such I should respect him. Which I did, but not as much as my mother probably wanted me to.

In any case, I was thrown from my musings by the voice of the pilot on the intercom.

* * *

Lucas was jolted awake as a result of the crackling. He looked over at me, confused as to what was going on. I didn't have any more answers than he did, but that wasn't saying much, considering we were both pretty clueless.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that we are going to be landing in Corneria City soon, within the next thirty minutes. Be sure to keep your seatbelt securely fastened and do not walk along the aisle. We will be landing shortly".

"Wait...Corneria?" Lucas asked.

"Sssshhh!" I hissed at my boyfriend. "Pretend to still be asleep!"

Lucas didn't get it at first, but then I quickly explained why. If something more was going on than we were aware of, they might become suspicious of us if we were awake. We didn't know how much time it had been since being shot with those tranquilizer darts, but probably enough time that we could get here, wherever _here_ was.

After about five minutes of feigning unconsciousness, however, no guards had come to check if we were awake or not.

"Hey, Willow" Lucas said.

"Yeah?"

"I think that I'm going to go over to the window, see what I can see" he said.

I tried to stand up, but realized that I couldn't. Whatever had been in those darts was making me feel quite dizzy right now, and I couldn't rise higher than four feet, out of my full height of five feet and five inches tall. There was no way I was making it more than a meter or two away, let alone the full ten meters to the window.

"I'll do it" Lucas said.

Before I could protest, saying that there was no way he would be able to if I couldn't, he stood up, leaning heavily on the wall for support. He managed to make his way over to the window of the aircraft. Then, he looked back at me with an expression that seemed to combine equal parts wonder and worry.

"Willow, you should check this out!" he exclaimed.

I tried once again to stand up, but this time I was successful. Leaning on the wall, I managed to grab Lucas's hand and stagger over to the window. What I saw outside was too beautiful, and yet terrifying at the same time, to put into words.

If you have ever watched a science fiction movie, you might picture a vortex of many colors as being a rift between dimensions. This was what was outside the window right now, and I almost fell backwards when I saw the sheer expanse of it all.

For as far as I could see, there were lots of patches of black, permeating everything like smoke, or when you close your eyes after looking at something bright for a long period of time. And yet, moving between them, there were many other colors as well. Scarlet and purple and lime green were frequently mixed with blue, orange, and yellow. But black was the overall theme here, and it must have covered about sixty percent of the area outside the window, if you could even call it that.

I couldn't tell if the other side was one mile away or twenty. I couldn't tell if we were twenty feet above the bottom, or twenty thousand. This seemed to warp your sense of distance, not making it easy to gauge distances by looking. All I knew was, it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen.

Looking farther to the right, I could see that the black was receding, to be replaced by the other colors. A minty green color was being intermixed with navy blue, making the whole place look like some of the coastal parts of Maine, especially the islands in the central and eastern parts of the coast. And then, I realized that this ethereal reality, or whatever it was, seemed to be changing altogether.

Suddenly, the landscape looked a whole lot more real.

A seaside city was visible on the ground, more magnificent than even New York City. Then again, for someone from a town as small as Swanville, Maine, anything even remotely like Boston was spectacular. This was several light-years _beyond_ Boston. The sea was steel blue, the same color as Lucas's eyes.

The city was also surrounded by green plains in two directions, giving way to iron gray mountains, some of them capped in snow (in fact, those that were _capped_ in snow were also covered in snow in the lower elevations). All in all, it was a very beautiful landscape.

As we passed through what seemed to be some kind of protective bubble, something seemed to light up in Lucas's eyes.

"I know what this is".

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

I was so sure of where we were, now, that I would have bet my life's savings on it, even though I had never had much money of my own. The logo on the helicopter, the landscape, the psychedelic landscape we had just passed through...all signs pointed to it.

This was either a _very_ skilled replica of Corneria from the Star Fox games, or it was actually the governing planet of the Lylat system itself. I had always figured that the latter was fictional, but I was having second thoughts about that assumption now. Maybe video game worlds were real!

Although, I did still have a few questions about that. Hopefully they would be answered sooner or later, because I didn't know what was going on.

And then, we went into a nosedive. I fell to the ground, hard. So did Willow. The deck swayed like a ship in an extremely truculent storm, and we tried to clutch onto something on the floor, _anything_ to avoid the personal gravity of Lucas Enfield being shifted ninety degrees.

Suddenly, Willow gasped very loudly, and I realized that we were indeed beginning to slide like pucks on a hockey rink, or marbles on a table maze. I tried to slow our fall (and shut her up), but she couldn't help it. Later, I knew that it wouldn't have mattered if she had gasped or not, because once they landed they would be able to tell that both of us had regained consciousness.

The good news was, no guards seemed to be coming for us, probably because the floor was steeper than a double-black diamond ski slope. The bad news was, the pitch of the floor did not decrease at all.

"The good news is, we're landing. The bad news is, we're crash-landing" Willow said in a joking tone.

Even in this scenario, it made me laugh, even if only a little bit. It was a good feeling to recall funny lines from Pixar movies every once in a while.

Unfortunately, it seemed that at this rate we really _were_ going to have a crash landing. It definitely seemed possible, based on the immense speed at which we seemed to be travelling.

We went at this pitch, as well as pace, for what felt like an eternity, but in reality was probably only for a minute or two. We had been farther above Corneria City than I had realized.

Finally, I felt an enormous impact, which resulted in Willow and I flying into the air.

* * *

I landed, painfully, on the wall. Then, I slid to the floor, not having broken anything, but it hurt nonetheless. It wasn't as though I had a concussion or anything like that, either. It was just very painful, and the same thing seemed to happen to Willow.

Just after we both landed on the floor, a short but muscular man with fiery red hair, who must have been the pilot, came through the doorway. Appearing about 25 years old, he looked at both of us as if we were dogs that had just pissed on the carpet rather than two sixteen-year-old Mainers who had been kidnapped for no reason.

Deciding that we needed to be treated with a little more respect than that, the man cleared his throat and began speaking.

"Good morning, Willow Foster. Good morning, Lucas Enfield. You probably wonder what's going on".

We both nodded.

"Well, as soon as this chopper is checked out, you will each be taken into the building here, where you will be told more. Let me just say, though, that I am not a molester or anything like that. My name is Logan, and I'm the pilot of chopper #AD1930. Pleased to meet you".

With those words, his demeanor changed in a very measurable way. He didn't look so antagonistic anymore; on the contrary, he looked downright friendly, not like he was super pissed at us.

"Thanks, Logan" we both said in unison. Because, really, what else _could_ we say?

* * *

After determining that everything was all right with the chopper, including but not limited to the blades, the altimeter, and everything else that you could imagine (I guess this place really cared about the quality of their flying vehicles), we were both separated and led off in opposite directions, by different guards.

Well, I don't know if "guard" is the right word. Maybe "instructor" would be a better term for my state of mind with regards to these people.

Even so, I felt very bothered to be separated from Willow for as long as I was. It really was torture, considering that we also had no idea what was going to happen to us. Were we going to be executed as spies? Sold into slavery? Made to chop off our legs and become pilots?

I didn't know, and neither did Willow. There was no way of telling what might come down, now.

Small town life really was predictable, especially compared to what was happening right now. It could be the most crazy thing I had ever done in my life. In fact, I already had discovered that we were in Corneria. This was just one mind-blowing event after another, thus far.

The airfield had been half a mile long, and we'd landed right in the middle of it. Since Willow and I were led off in opposite directions, each of us had a quarter of a mile to walk with only our guards for company. I wasn't too eager to make conversation with them for fear of saying something that would anger them, and I knew that these were _not_ people whose bad side you wanted to get on.

In Maine, the temperature had been in the twenties during the day and even colder at night. Now, however, it seemed to be a very comfortable day, perhaps sixty or seventy degrees.

Suddenly, my guard, a tall, stern woman with short black hair, handed me a pair of glasses.

"Put these on, Mr. Enfield. You're going to see things as they really are, once you have done that".

I was a little skeptical, but then I remembered this woman's generally harsh demeanor, and I decided that I had better do what she wanted me to. And so, I put on the glasses.

Immediately, I was assaulted by an array of numbers all around me. It didn't look like anything that I had ever seen in my small New England backwater.

 **NAME: LUCAS** **ZANTRY** **ENFIELD**

 **PLACE OF ORIGIN: SWANVILLE, WALDO COUNTY, MAINE, USA, HUMAN DIMENSION**

 **AGE: 16**

 **BIRTHDAY: JUNE 12, 200R**

 **HEIGHT: 6'2"**

 **WEIGHT: 165 POUNDS**

 **EYE COLOR: STEEL BLUE**

 **HAIR COLOR: LIGHT BROWN**

 **STATUS: NEW-READY FOR PROCESSING**

"Wow!" I exclaimed.

"I know" the guard said. "And there's more, too. Just look up at the area above the square". As she was saying this, she gestured up to the sky above the airstrip, where I saw yet more numbers and words.

 **CORNERIA CITY-GREY FOX ACADEMY AIRSTRIP**

 **TIME OF DAY: 07:23:49 AND COUNTING**

 **DATE: DECEMBER 13, 201X**

 **TEMPERATURE: 64 DEGREES**

This confirmed much of what I had already basically figured out to be true. I really was in Corneria. And my guard really did mean business. Chances were, this wasn't a dream.

* * *

I was led into a building by the side of the airstrip. It was a two-story warehouse, with stairs leading up to the top from the inside. After a desk on the right, where I guessed that my guard would be sitting at right now had she not been escorting me right now, there was a door leading down a short hallway.

I wasn't foolish enough to ask what we were doing here. All signs pointed towards something having to do with Star Fox, but I knew that I couldn't jump to conclusions about this just yet.

Finally, we reached what appeared to be some kind of office, with a gray desk surrounded by intricate red-and-gold carpeting on the walls and floor. It looked like Bill Gates's or Donald Trump's home office, not what appeared to be some kind of secretary.

The guard sat me down in front of the desk, and then she sat in a swivel chair right behind it. It reminded me of an elementary school principal's office. That would definitely be the way I felt right now, except that I wasn't aware of what, if anything, I had done wrong.

"So, Lucas Enfield", the guard/secretary said, now sounding far more like a school principal than a drill sergeant, "you are probably wondering why you are here".

I nodded. "That's an understatement".

"Well, it's really quite simple, young master Enfield. You see, the Lylat System is under threat from an alien species known as the Anglars".

"Oh, like in Star Fox Command" I said.

The secretary frowned. "I do not know what 'Star Fox Command' is. I only know what is going on in Corneria right now, and the great threat that the Anglar Empire poses to our very city, our very way of life. It may not look so, Mr. Enfield, but we are fighting a losing battle here".

"Okay, but where do I fit into all of this?" I asked, a little more cynically than I meant it.

"It's really quite simple, Mr. Enfield. We need more members of our military force. Since not enough people in the furry universe are-"

"Wait, hold up here" I said. "The _furry universe._ There are furries in my universe, the only one that has been proven to exist. They're people who like to dress up as animals, because...well, just because".

"No, Mr. Enfield. The people here are _real_ furries. They're actually walking, talking versions of what you humans call _animals._

Now that I noticed, the secretary was no longer looking like a normal woman. Instead, she morphed into a tall purple cat, with large ears. I was amazed that I hadn't seen this before, but maybe it was some kind of magic trick, like Animagi from the _Harry Potter_ books.

"As I was saying, Mr. Enfield...you're not going to be happy to hear this, but due to a shortage of soldiers, we've been forced to take young men and women like yourself from the human universe to use as soldiers here. It doesn't matter if you want to or not, you need to. Forget your family, Lucas Enfield. _We_ are your family now".

I tried to take all of that in. It was difficult to accept that I might never see my family again, but I guess that that was just what happened. That didn't mean that I had to be happy about all of this, though. On the contrary, knowing the reason for what was happening, and more specifically, _what_ was happening, did serve to make me angrier at the situation.

"I have one more question..." I said.

"Fire away" the secretary/cat/guard said.

"Who are you again? I feel like I have seen you from somewhere before. Maybe Star Fox 64?"

"Again", the secretary said, "I do not know what this 'Star Fox 64' is, but it is not pertinent to this discussion. As to who I am, you won't have heard of me if you have indeed never been to Corneria. My name is Katt Monroe".

* * *

Katt led me into what looked like the inside of a very high-tech medical tent from a nuclear war movie. There was a shower, scale, and height board, and I had a feeling I knew what was coming next.

She made me take a five-minute decontamination shower (which was extremely awkward being in a place that she could see me easily), and then I was given my clothes back, which had been thoroughly washed. Actually, they weren't my clothes at all. They seemed to be some sort of school uniform, with purple shirt and turquoise pants. It seemed like an odd color scheme for a military academy, but I was going to take it.

"There are different levels of clothing students at this academy wear based on their skill level. Purple and turquoise is the lowest. These clothes have been tailor-made for your height of six feet and two inches, and your weight of a hundred and sixty-five pounds. Is this information correct, Lucas Enfield?"

"Yes" I responded, because it really was unnecessary when those words had been shown right in front of my face.

Katt then continued to ask me more questions, such as my shoe size, if I had any food allergies, any health problems that ran in my family, among others. When I was starting to believe it would never end, she asked me to change into the purple-and-turquoise outfit. I was again arrested at just how unmilitary it looked on me.

"Well, Lucas, that is just about all. I do have a little bit of bad news for you, however, before you head off to breakfast with your new classmates".

"Yes?" I asked. "What is it? What bad news do you have to give me?"

Katt looked very sober as she said the following.

"You are very tall for a pilot. Due to being exposed to heavy G-forces, pilots can lose consciousness if they don't get the blood to their brains. Your long legs might make you faster on the ground, but they also make you more likely to faint, which is very bad in the midst of combat".

I didn't really like the word _combat,_ but I decided that that was not the most important thing for me to worry about right now. "What does that mean?" I asked.

I had yearned for something extraordinary. However, sometimes it was important to be careful what you wished for.

"It means, Mr. Enfield, that you may have to lose your legs".

* * *

 **I updated this on Tuesday, but I finished it on Sunday night. I am on Chapter 4 right now, so there is that. I'm at 160 views on this now. I hope you appreciated the Legend reference.**

 **I would still like a PM or two for additional flight students, though. Those really make my day.**

 **Also, I will be having a question at the end of most chapters from here on out. At the end of the next chapter, I will post my own answer and the next question. I expect you to answer in your reviews, if that is okay.**

 **QOTC (Question Of The Chapter): Where are you from?**

 **SnowLucario out.**


	4. Fight Club

**I've been on this site for six months now. Half a year. And yet I still am under 12,000 views :(**

 **Here is my longest chapter thus far, at a little more than six thousand words. Tons of stuff happens, so if you can't review and tell me anything at all, that is a problem.**

 **I'd just like to clarify that YES, I HAVE SEEN THE GAME THEORY ABOUT THIS. However, we can consider this story AU. Also, keep in mind that Lucas is several inches taller than his new classmates.**

 **I've created some new Deviations on my DeviantArt of my trip to Arizona, so I would highly recommend checking those pictures out if you have not already.**

 **Another thing is this. Rocker on, I wish that you would create a profile here so I could PM you. We would have a lot to talk about.**

 **It's been very hard not uploading chapters as soon as I have finished them, but I feel that this will make my story more successful. I don't want you guys to feel too overwhelmed, so every four days may be my schedule, provided there is at least one finished chapter. This also gives me a chance to look over each chapter.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

In the instant after Katt delivered this bad news, I ran my hand over my leg hair, feeling the fleshy Caucasian skin. I can't believe it. I might lose all of this.

I had heard of the popular Star Fox fan theory that the team cut off their legs in order to reduce the blood flowing down there, and increase the blood flowing to their heads, so that they would be less likely to pass out. I should have figured that this would be more of a risk with someone as tall as me.

But what choice had I had? From my perspective, I had been drafted into this, and I had had no decision in the matter, no input at all. And yet, here I was, at risk of being required to chop off my legs for a military career that I had never wanted.

Before I could stop myself, I stood up and started howling, holding my nose towards the ceiling like a caged elephant. I'm not proud of it, but I'm telling it like it is, and you can make fun of me for throwing a temper tantrum in front of Katt Monroe if you want.

"Whoa, Mr. Enfield, relax" Katt said.

I tried to control my temper. Usually, this was not like me. I was not one of those people who threw temper tantrums everywhere I went. But something about the idea of a double amputation made me snap.

The pink cat took me by the shoulders and forced me to look into those fierce indigo eyes. She looked like a babysitter who was about to send her client to bed early for disobeying her.

Suddenly, however, she seemed to have a change in demeanor. "I'm going to make a deal for you, Mr. Enfield. I know that you want to keep those nice, long legs of yours, don't you, my little kitten?"

 _What?! I'm not a kitten!_

That was what I thought. But, at the same time, I knew that I would do **anything** **within reason** in order to not have to have my legs cut off and replaced with cold hard metal.

"I want to hear the terms of your deal, Mrs. Monroe, before I accept or decline. Is this okay with you?" I said.

"Sure, Lucas Enfield. During the next week, you will participate in several combat-related activities, including but not limited to fighting, shooting, and flight simulators. There is a bit of a caveat, though. We will be monitoring you during this time, and this is important, because of the intense G-forces that are involved in some of the simulations. This applies to everyone, but especially to you.

"If you can make it through the next _week_ without losing consciousness during any lessons, then you will be allowed to keep your legs, at least for now. If it proves to be too much of a problem, if you pass out in a simulator, you will be suspended from class for a day".

I nodded. So far, this wasn't sounding too bad. No different than any other student's situation, anyway...probably.

"But what about Game Theory? Didn't they debunk all that, aren't the amputations not going to help me with that at all?"

Katt sniffed in a very feminine way. "Well, Mr. Enfield, I do not know what this _Game Theory_ thing is, but amputating the legs really does help. And so, hopefully the Gz forces will be not too bad for you to endure".

There was still one other question to be settled, though. "What happens on that day?" I asked Katt.

"It's simple" Katt said. "If you pass out, you will be subjected to a tilt-table test. You will be strapped into a table and tilted at various angles to see if you lose consciousness again. If you do, we'll have to amputate your legs for your own safety".

She said all that like an evil stepmother who was going to describe just how she was going to punish her stepchild, or like a witch when she described how she was going to make a potion. The whole time, those indigo eyes did not lose their sweetness.

No matter what tone she said this in, however, I knew what she meant. If I showed any problems with the gravity, then I was going to pay the price.

* * *

After all of that, Katt told me that I was free to go. However, I wasn't free to go just _anywhere,_ not that I knew where anything was, being new to the place.

I was led down a hallway to what I assumed was going to be some kind of meeting place. Maybe I would meet up with the headmaster, or maybe I was going to be in a room with other new recruits. As it turned out, I was right on both counts, although not initially.

The hallway looked relatively futuristic. It was not stony, but rather looked like the inside of a tunnel you walked down in order to board an airplane. There was some carpeting occasionally, but it was in a grayish-black color, not anything that was worth looking at in my opinion. Being from New England, I preferred things to look more rustic, but still comfortable. This looked the opposite, and completely foreign to me.

And then, I met Willow partway down the hallway.

I'm going to be honest. I had almost forgotten that Willow Foster even existed, but _give me a break._ Getting told that you may need a double amputation is pretty distracting.

"I love you, Lucas. I'm _so_ glad that my processing didn't take too long!" she said.

"How long?" I asked.

"Only about fifteen minutes" she said.

I thought about it and realized that I must have been in that room for at least half an hour. Probably because of what Katt had told me.

And I considered telling her. I really did. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't want to burden Willow with that kind of information. It might make her a little less attracted to her boyfriend if he had no legs, or was in danger of losing them. Because of this, I kept my mouth shut.

"Well, I think that you should go into the hall now, my little kittens" she said.

I looked at Willow, then remembered why she looked back at me quizzically. She had not spent the last half hour in the presence of that woman, who had changed attitudes very much over that time. But that was just how things went in my life now.

We didn't see any reason to disobey Katt, so we entered the hall. And it was _extravagant._

* * *

The ceiling was so high that you could have stacked ten cars on top of each other and still not reached it. The room could have fit eighteen suburban homes, complete with backyards and picket fences, as well as driveways. It seemed to be divided into various groups of students, all wearing the same colors of clothes within their individual groups, probably representing their skill levels.

On the far left side were my color scheme, all boys, with purple shirt and turquoise pants. I was directed over there, while Willow, who was wearing a pink shirt and a scarlet pair of pants, was directed to a section on the other side of the hall. Looking around, I realized that we _were_ sorted according to skill level. The older students, as well as some who had been there for longer, were in different groups. There was yellow shirt with blue pants, crimson shirt with black pants, and, at what looked like the very top, orange shirt with green pants.

As for the girls, it seemed to go from pink and scarlet, to teal and orange, to gold and magenta, to orange and green, just like the boys. I guessed that they figured that it was only for the less experience students that gender mattered. It was once you were at the very top level that they knew they could trust you fully. Which I suppose I understood.

The walls looked like those you would see in a war memorial, painted white and raised all the way to the top. _This_ was the part that resembled New England.

"Well, I'll see you later, Lucas" Willow said.

"See you later, Willow" I said.

We went to our respective tables and I sat down with the other boys of my skill level. There were three other new recruits there. One was a boy with pale skin, short and wavy brown hair, and dark circles under his eyes as if due to stress. Another boy wore glasses and looked like a stereotypical math nerd. A third boy had skin the color of peanut butter, and he looked very displeased to be there. I didn't blame him for that.

After we were all sat down, who I assumed was the headmaster came striding onto the stage. He stood behind a podium with a microphone, and as he turned towards us, I looked at his face. And I was arrested by what I saw.

Although, considering that Katt Monroe was the secretary at this school, it should not have seemed too crazy that Bill Grey would have been the headmaster of the flight academy. I knew who he was even before he said it. Those dark goggles and gray complexion to his skin could not have been mistaken anywhere by someone who had ever played Star Fox 64 or the remake on the 3DS.

"Good morning, students at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. We have five new students today, but for those of you who don't know, I would like to introduce myself.

"My name is Bill Grey, and I have been the headmaster of this school for the last three years. I fought and helped defend Katina in the First Lylat War, and now I am training cadets for the second. I am sorry to have to have taken you guys from your lives back on the planet Earth, but this is more important".

 _No, it's not!_ I thought angrily. Nothing _justifies this, at least not without asking us first, and allowing us to make an informed decision! Because right now I had no idea before you had to shoot a tranquilizer into my leg and just haul me here like an_ animal! _Then again, you ARE animals, so it does kind of make sense._

"Let's go ladies first, shall we? There is only one girl who was sent here by the airways last night. Let's give it up for...Willow Foster! Willow, will you please stand up?"

She did. I could tell that she looked nervous as hell, and was probably just as angry as me for being taken here against her will. But there was nothing she could do about it. We were stuck here, for better or worse.

The others clapped, including the hundreds of other flight students that must have been in the dining hall at this very moment. I wondered if this was an ordinary thing to do at breakfast, or just on mornings that they had new recruits. Probably the latter.

"All right. Thank you, Willow" Bill said. He then consulted his iPad, which no doubt had a list of all the other kids.

"Cole McCallen? Is he here today?"

"I'm here!" the pale boy next to me shouted as he stood up. He looked as though he was about to start singing "Pumped Up Kicks", but he luckily did not. Even though Bill did not tell Cole to state the fact that he was present, Cole had evidently made that decision himself. It really did show that this guy probably had a fairly loud personality.

"Thanks for the enthusiasm, Mr. McCallen. Let's see...we have Michael Kirk. Is he here, or is he absent somehow? Did the tranquilizer dart kill him instead? Remember, you've got to use a heart m-"

The nerdy boy sitting next to me stood up. Clearly, he was pretty shy. I didn't blame Michael for that, because I was not the most outgoing person sometimes myself. But this guy looked far beyond me.

"All right. Thanks, Michael. Let's get to...William Wexford. Is he present?"

"I am" the black boy said as he stood up. Like I had thought, he had a Southern accent and appeared to give no bones about it. I'd heard that Stephen Colbert hid his as a child in order to avoid sounding stupid, but this was clearly not Stephen Colbert.

But then, my heart began to rise in my chest, and my stomach started churning as though I was about to throw up. But I knew what was really going on. It was my turn to stand up next, in front of hundreds of other people. But if Michael Kirk had done it, so could I.

"And our final student today...is Lucas Enfield. Is he here, or is he not?"

I stood up and said, "That's my name".

The other seven hundred people in the hall clapped, but I tried to make out Willow in the segment of pink girls. It wasn't easy to see her in the middle of all of this, but I thought I saw a little bit of her face. But that was it.

"All right!" Bill announced. "We have everyone that we need. And so, let breakfast begin!"

Suddenly, the food rose onto the table on platforms, just like in _The Hunger Games._ Of course, I wouldn't have put it past Cornerian technology to have something like this. I _was_ amazed, however, at the immense array of dishes that sat before me.

There was fruit salad. There were waffles, bagels, eggs, and bacon. Any assortment of toast, ham, and/or sausage was present. And the drinks, too, were a spectacle; water, cranberry juice, OJ, apple juice, and even hot chocolate ("Only once a day!" one of the other boys said to me). A bowl of apples, oranges, bananas, and pears lay on the highest pedestal, a good nine inches above the table. I didn't know where this all came from, but everything looked delicious.

When I noticed Cole digging in, looking like he was worried this might be stolen from him, I decided that it was okay for myself to begin eating as well. I took a bagel from its plate, as well as a red delicious apple, one of my favorite types. I decided that I was going to wash it down with a glass of cranberry juice.

At the same time that I was eating, I heard small talk going on all around me. I decided that I was going to participate in some of it. I might as well make the best of this situation by learning more about the people I was with.

I decided to start with Will, since he was the closest one to me and looked the most willing to talk.

"So...where are you from, Will?" I asked between bites of my apple.

"Well, I used to live in Louisiana before all of this happened. Baton Rouge, to be more specific. How about you...Louis, right?"

"My name is Lucas, but I'm from Maine, and it's a small town in the middle of the state. I guess it's okay, but it is pretty quiet. How did you like Louisiana, or used to, anyway?" I said.

"I suppose it's all right, but it is really hot in the summer. And lots of bugs, too. I'm glad that there's no snow, though, because we couldn't afford to clean it all up".

I knew that it wasn't the kindest question to ask Will, but I couldn't help myself. "Is your family poor?"

Will didn't seem too offended as he nodded casually, as if being poor was just a fact of life. "How about you?"

"My family has always been on the better side of things, but my town is not anything fancy. A lot of run-down houses in Swanville".

"It's the same down south" Will said.

I nodded, and then continued eating, as I saw the other students in the hall doing the same. I kept wondering where we were going to sleep, or when our classes would start.

As it turned out, I would get one of those answers soon enough.

* * *

Once we had all eaten our fill, Bill stood back up at the podium, and he made an announcement.

"I will now ask some of the older students to escort the new students to their dormitories. William, Michael, Lucas, Cole, your dorm number is 37405. Willow, your dorm number is 94569".

The four of us looked at each other, wondering what was going to happen now that we were heading up to our dormitories. Would we get to see our schedules for the first time?

One of the older students walked over to our table. He was wearing crimson and black, meaning that he was at the second level from the top, what I guess would have been called a prefect at Hogwarts.

"Hello" the older boy said. "My name is Ulysses Chapman, and I have been assigned to show you the way to where you will be staying during the next few months, or however long you remain at the lowest rank. The room has been prepared for your arrival in advance, all your luggage was brought up there. Oh, yeah, and...your parents have already been notified, and they gave their consent, earning a large amount of money in compensation".

My jaw dropped, although I tried not to let it. I couldn't believe that my loving parents, who had never done anything to hurt me, had signed my life away to these people from an alternate dimension who intended to use me for military service. It definitely made me regret all those times I had ever kissed my mother on the cheek, or went ice skating with my dad.

 _Knowing_ that they had just done that to me, I knew that I wasn't going to be giving John Enfield, my father, a Father's Day card anytime soon.

"Hey, Lucas...are you okay?" Ulysses Chapman said.

I noticed that I was standing there, completely slack-jawed, while the other three newcomers and the prefect were staring at me like I was from another planet. Which, technically, I was.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I said. I didn't think that I wanted to tell a prefect that I had a problem with my family just, well, _selling me to these people._

* * *

Ulysses led us out of the dining hall and into a stairwell, which was covered in the same black carpet as before, the entire place looking like an airport in a way.

During this time, he showed us a large room that he told us was the track. When I looked through the window on the door, I saw the typical maroon clay track that you expected to see around a high school football field.

I also saw Cole looking at Mike's pockets, as if the shady-looking kid was going to steal from the nerd. That was such a common trope that I thought it would be so perfect if it happened. Luckily for Mike it didn't, but I still saw the look in Cole's eyes that betrayed what might have been his intentions.

 _What's up with Cole?_ I thought.

And then I thought back to Will, whose family was on the poorer side of the spectrum. Maybe his parents really did love him, but needed the money that they would get if they sent him off to the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. Even so, why give up your son for that?

The hallway branched out into two different paths, but Ulysses seemed to know where to go. He led us on the leftward path, after which the hallway turned to purple with turquoise lighting, a very pretty sight to be sure. But it, of course, reminded us of our juniority.

After a further two flights of stairs, we finally arrived at a door marked ROOM 37405, which was our dorm room. Ulysses left us there, and we walked in the room.

For the third time that day, I was in awe of my surroundings. Four four-poster beds, each with purple-and-turquoise sheets and hangings, just like one of the dormitories at Hogwarts, were arranged in the four corners of the room. Mine was the one closest to the window on the other side, which also had a bedside table.

Underneath the bed was a suitcase, the same rolling bag that we took to Logan International Airport whenever we were going to travel internationally. In addition, there were some towels (a sign told me that some of my lessons would involve swimming), and a container with some of my favorite books from home. I was glad to have this, but it was an emotional double-pointed sword, because the fact remained that my parents had purposely sold me here. For how much money, I didn't know.

I sat down on the bed, wondering what we were going to do for the rest of the day. I knew that Willow was in another dormitory somewhere else in the building, but I had no way of knowing where. To make matters worse, there was no way to know what was in store for me. Would I die in service of these people? In battle? What did being a member of the Cornerian army entail, exactly?

As I thought about Willow, I began to have fantasies of a time that we might sneak out together. Maybe sometime at night, under the stars. _Were_ there even stars in Corneria?

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

For the next half an hour, I sat on my pink-and-scarlet bed, thinking of just how much I _hated_ those stereotypically girly colors. Couldn't they have given me anything else for sheets?

Not for the first time that day, I thought of Lucas, and how I didn't have any way of knowing where he was. I knew that I was on the sixth floor, from counting the amount of times we went up and down stairs during my tour, but I was all alone in my dorm room, save for a couple of other girls who seemed to be very snobbish to me. Then again, I'd never met them, so I guessed I should have reserved judgment on that front.

After thirty minutes of this boredom, a navy blue cat standing on her hind legs handed us schedules. She gave mine to me last, and I saw that I had a lot of stuff to do that day.

WILLOW AUBRY FOSTER HAS:

630- WAKE UP  


730- BREAKFAST

800-CLEAN UP DORMITORY

900-HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT

1000-TECHNOLOGY

1100-AQUATICS

1200-LUNCH

1230-REST HOUR

1330-FIELD MEDICINE

1500-SIMULATORS

1700-SHOWER HOUR

1800-DINNER

1900-EVENING MEETING

2000-CURFEW

2100-LIGHTS OUT

Looking at that schedule, it sounded like some highly physical stuff. I was a good swimmer, but I wasn't that trained in field medicine or my first class, hand-to-hand combat.

 _Well, we'll just have to see what happens,_ I thought.

* * *

When I got to my first class, I saw that there were about fifteen other kids about my age there. To my pleasant surprise, one of them was Lucas, who seemed just as happy to see me.

"Can I see your schedule?" he asked me.

I nodded and showed him my schedule. He frowned when he saw that, aside from this, we had no other classes together today.

"Why do you get to do the flight simulators today, but we have to wait until at least tomorrow or Monday?" he said in a playfully angry tone.

His words alone would imply that he was excited about flight simulators. But I could catch something in his body language that told me he didn't really want to actually _do_ the flight simulators, he just wanted to get it over with. Before I could ask him about that, though, the instructor for Hand-To-Hand Combat cleared his throat and asked us to settle down.

"Order in the dojo!" his voice rasped.

It was a tall, hunched gray wolf with a white snout. He had a patch over one eye, making me think that it must have been injured in a fight. At least, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

"All right!" the wolf said, in a voice reminiscent of a two-pack-a-day smoker. "My name is Wolf O'Donnell, and I am your instructor for HTH Combat, as we call it here. How many of you have taken martial arts before, back on Earth?"

Some of the people in the room, including Lucas and I, raised our hands.

"What belt did you make it up to?" Wolf asked.

"I got all the way to yellow belt before I quit, because I wanted to advance up the ranks faster" Lucas said. I couldn't tell if he was kidding or not.

"I made it to purple" I said, which was true. If Lucas really was telling the truth, he would need to have had a lot more patience.

"Enough!" Wolf barked, which surprised me. "The first match is Kelly Islander against Willow Foster. Everyone else, stand back. This could be an epic battle" he said, as he licked his lips.

The girl who must have been Kelly advanced out of the crowd and walked slowly towards me. After being made to shake hands, I noticed the very vivid fire in her eyes. This was going to be a battle to at _least_ the third blood.

* * *

Kelly was a very large girl. Not large in a fat way, but more _muscular_ than anything. I knew that she was confident, but could I find some way to turn that against her? It was time to find out.

As soon as Wolf finished his countdown, I went out swinging with a punch. I thought that I would be able to hit her, but she was clearly thinking ahead as she dodged out of the way well before the punch connected where her face had been. We weren't wearing any padding or anything, so there was a very real possibility that someone could get hurt in one of these fights.

Kelly came back to get me, though. She gave a large, quick punch up and to the right of my face, which I only just managed to dodge. I decided to meet the next one with a punch of my own.

But she just kept going at me. This girl seemed to think offense was the best defense, that she should punch me so much that I couldn't punch her. Which I felt was a legitimate strategy, although your mileage may vary on that. I knew that I needed to think of something, fast.

Her next punch was even closer to hitting me, so I knew that I was losing ground on her. I tried to meet her punches once again with my own, but I was quickly tiring. My actions were getting slower and slower, and her punches were getting closer and closer to hitting me.

I managed to land a punch to her shoulder, which got Lucas to cheer for me, I could tell. This wasn't going to go my way, though.

Because as soon as Kelly had recovered from that punch, she went out swinging very aggressively once again, trying not to take too long to defeat me. I once again attempted to step out of the way, but it was too little, too late.

The punch knocked me off of my feet. I was now lying on the ground, defenseless. I tried to get up, but Kelly was prepared for that. Clearly, she had fought hand-to-hand before. I was done, and Wolf had to know it. But Kelly kept waling on me for _ten agonizing seconds._

Finally, Wolf blew his whistle. "That's enough, Kelly!"

Kelly stood up from punching me, and Wolf helped me to stand up. Kelly laughed, at what was probably not her first knockdown victory.

"Our first winner of the day is Kelly Islander. Congratulations" Wolf said.

I just stood back, embarrassed. But then, something even worse happened.

"Our second battle of the day will be between Zeke Underwood and...Lucas Enfield".

* * *

Well, great. Just when I had gotten my head handed to me on a silver platter in HTH combat, I now had to watch Lucas fight against another boy. This time, though, it didn't look like too uneven a matchup. Like Lucas, Zeke was also tall and skinny, but not particularly muscular. In other words, a rather catlike physique. This would have been an interesting fight to watch had I been able to ignore who was in it.

As soon as Wolf blew his whistle to commence the match, Lucas and Zeke circled each other for almost a full minute, waiting to see who was going to make the first move. I could only watch as Zeke snarled at Lucas, trying to intimidate him.

As far as I could tell, however, this tactic did not faze my...I guess, _acquaintance_ , in any significant way. Lucas was the first one to go out swinging, and he almost managed to hit Zeke in the stomach. However, the other boy was ready for it and swung his arms together as if he was trying to make a basket out of them, blocking the effect of Lucas's attack.

Zeke counterattacked, sending his hand-basket right at Lucas. He barely dodged that, to the point that his fluffy hair was ruffled by it like tall grass on a very breezy day. But Lucas was not going to give up that easily.

He got in another punch to Zeke's abdomen, which got the other boy reeling backwards. He didn't fall down, but he certainly did come close. In the end, though, Zeke managed to keep himself upright, and still fighting Lucas.

Then, Lucas made what looked to be a fatal mistake. He let Zeke get too big of an opening, and the other boy wrestled him to the ground. Lucas was pinned to the floor now, and utterly defenseless. I could see the fire in his eyes, though; he was _mad._ Lucas wasn't ready to go down just yet.

Lucas gave another thrash, but Zeke still had the upper hand. Just when I thought Wolf was about to blow his whistle, Lucas managed to stand back up slowly, after first getting to the point where he was kneeling, and now he was on his actual legs.

Zeke made a sweeping punch, which hit Lucas in the chest, nearly sending him back down to the floor. But my acquaintance was persistent, and he was not quitting. He went out with his claw, digging his short fingernails into Zeke's skin.

I looked at Wolf, expecting our instructor to call Lucas out for fighting dirty. But to my surprise, he did nothing. The fight had to go on.

Zeke howled in pain quietly, but he managed to come back, doing the same to Lucas. Now, both boys were bleeding slightly. This was turning out to be a very dirty fight. I knew that, at the very least, the floor would have to be cleaned up before the next fight happened.

Lucas was now on top of Zeke, as he pushed himself and the other boy to the ground. They rolled on top of each other, each trying to get the upper hand in this battle once again. I could tell, though, that this was not going to end anytime soon, other than Wolf blowing his whistle and saying that it _had_ to end. But that wasn't happening yet.

For three minutes, Zeke and Lucas rolled over each other, each trying to get in a good pummeling. However, neither of them managed to stay on top of the other for more than five seconds, meaning that this was likely to turn into a stalemate.

Wolf seemed to think so too, because he finally blew his whistle after 180 seconds of this, yelling "Time!" afterwards.

* * *

Lucas and Zeke both stood up, brushing off their knees and hands, the latter having been scraped raw by each other's fingernails.

"I consider that a draw" Wolf said. "Both of you seemed very determined to win, and yet it looked like it was going to go on forever. I think that is the only way to rule it".

Both boys nodded, looking glad that this was over. They shook hands, after which Wolf noticed that both boys' hands were bleeding.

"Should I call in medical?" the instructor said to the boys.

Zeke and Lucas both shook their heads. I really thought that they should have, since they were really bleeding, but I guess that they were just too tough for that, or at least perceived themselves to be.

"Okay!" Wolf said. "In that case, go to the back of the line, and we'll have the next fight!"

For the rest of the period, I watched other cadets wrestle with each other, but I was luckily never picked again. All I could think about was how tough they seemed to be, and how I somehow _knew_ that I wouldn't be able to beat them, at least not most of them. But the fact was that I just didn't know what was going to happen.

I really had been thinking that a lot lately.

I thought back to my examination. The person doing it, a navy blue falcon on his hind legs, had measured my height and told me that I was normal. After checking my blood pressure, weight, and asking me those other questions, I was cleared to go.

I hadn't seen Lucas's exam, but I had assumed that he was probably okay as well.

Now, though, I saw that he looked a little anxious about something. He was often running his hands down his long legs, and I couldn't shake the feeling that there might just be something that he wasn't telling me.

* * *

 **Answer: I'm from the United States. If you didn't read my profile, I am from the northeasternmost region known as New England. I don't have much of an accent, though. But I AM better at candlepin bowling than regular, so there is that.**

 **Question: What countries do you wish to visit? Where have you visited already?**

 **The next chapter should be up on Wednesday, December 7, four days from today. That is going to be my schedule from here on out. At the time of posting this, I am over a thousand words into Chapter 5.**


	5. The First Day

**I have created new playlists on my YouTube channel! If you want to listen to some of the music that I like to listen to while writing, just look at my "Writing Music" playlist.**

 **Also, Wing And A Scare has hit over 600 views. I think that's a pretty good number considering that this is only the fifth chapter. Let's get the views, and reviews, a lot higher than that.**

 **For those of you who are going to ask: I imagine that the content is the same in the semester, and those who start later get the short end of the stick.**

 **Finally, my 350,000th word on this site is within this chapter. Again, I'm not sure which one it is. And, before I forget, thank you to Singlewave for giving me Cole!**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

I was glad that the fight against Zeke was ruled as a draw. The truth of the matter was, I didn't think that I could keep on going like that for too much longer. My hands were bleeding, and the truth was that I was getting tired fast. I didn't want to end up an unconscious heap in front of my girlfriend, if you could call Willow Foster that yet.

Even now, I regretted not asking Wolf O'Donnell to bring in the medical team. I should have bandaged my hands, but I didn't think that the bleeding would be too bad of a problem. Now, I wasn't sure, but I still figured that I would be okay. And, maybe, just maybe, I would learn how to do it in my next class, which turned out to be Field Medicine.

 _What an opportune time to have Field Medicine._

* * *

Field Medicine was in the school's courtyard, or maybe it was one of many. Honestly, the place was so large that it was hard to figure out where everything was. We just followed everyone else who seemed to know better.

By luck of the draw, or whatever you would call it when no cards or anything of the sort had been involved, I ended up in a hallway with Will, the dark-skinned boy from Louisiana. Since he had the same class as me, we decided to team up in order to look for the place.

It was an uphill battle for sure. There weren't that many older students around, so Will and I had to kind of "feel" our way around the place. This backfired when we ended up five minutes late for class.

Luckily, it wasn't so late that we missed a significant portion of the lesson. The teacher, a rabbit on her hind legs, was just taking attendance when we turned up in the courtyard. She looked shocked, before saying the following.

"Who are you, and why are you late to my class?"

I didn't know what to say but the truth. "My name is Lucas Enfield, and this is William Wexford. We are new here, and so we got lost looking for class. Is that okay with you?"

The teacher didn't look happy, but she had no choice other than to accept our excuse. "Yes, that is fine" she said.

"Anyway", the teacher said, "for those of you who don't you, my name is Lucy Hare, and I am the teacher of Field Medicine here. In terms of combat, this is one of the most valuable disciplines that you can learn at this academy. It could mean the difference between saving your life, or someone else's, or that person dying. Therefore, this class is extremely important to pay attention during. I trust that the two of you will do so?"

I looked at Will. He didn't seem to argue with me, so we both nodded.

"Good" Lucy said. "Let us start today with how to bandage up wounds. We've got some right here, and I know that a lot of you are probably thinking that this class is going to be stupidly easy, but I will not be tolerating anything like that, at least not in the way you behave. I want your fullest attention".

A few of the other students, who had been snickering in the back of the courtyard, snapped back into focus. They were now staring at what Lucy was doing.

Lucy saw my hand, and noticed that it was bleeding. "Let's start with a demonstration on someone who is already bleeding. Lucas, will you come over here, please?"

I saw no way to refuse politely. Granted, it _was_ kind of embarrassing to be called forward like that when you were bleeding just a little bit. Really, it wasn't that serious.

I walked on over to Lucy. I felt very much like the test dummy that they were about to send off a ski jump to see if it would hold together. Of course, it really wasn't like my life was on the line here, but Lucy sure seemed to prefer to act like it was.

"So, I'll take my bandage here and note how large and deep the wound is. Based on that assessment, I will determine how much to cut off from this roll of bandage.

"In this case, Lucas's wound is small, so we're just going to use a bit of it in order to stop the bleeding".

She tied the bandage around my bleeding left hand, and the white material almost immediately started to turn red. She seemed pretty unconcerned, though.

"Very often, things do not get that far, but occasionally someone loses so much blood that they need more of it. In Lucas's case, he does not need a transfusion, but if someone does, you need to make sure that they have a compatible blood type".

"How will we know that?" a slightly overweight boy in the middle of the courtyard asked.

"We are going to make sure that, towards the end of this semester, which is not too far from now, each of you are going to have your blood type tested and tattooed onto you, just in case, so we know what type to give in the event you need a blood transfusion. As to how you will do it, well, we will cover next semester how to start IV lines. You're going to be bona-fide _medics_ by the time this is over!" Lucy said. For the first time, I saw her smiling.

We spent the rest of the class learning how to make bandages out of natural materials, which were apparently anywhere in the wilderness that you might care to look, if you did care to look, or need to. The courtyard was full of trees, so there were a lot of leaves that could be used for this purpose.

All I knew was, I was grateful not to be the test dummy any more.

* * *

After Field Medicine, our next class, if you could call it that, was lunch.

I was very grateful for this. After two classes on my first day here, I was starving. I still had no idea what would be in store for me that afternoon, even though I did know what the classes were, but I was grateful to have a chance to eat now.

I sat in roughly the same part of the table as before, with Will, Mike, and Cole. The three of them all seemed fairly tired as well, but we were all still facing another three and a half hours of lessons after this.

After the headmaster gave another announcement about lunch, he said, "On the menu today: sandwiches!"

Bill clapped his hands, and platters of the fixings for sandwiches rose onto the table in the same fashion as before. White, wheat, and rye breads, salami, lettuce, turkey, tomatoes, pickles, cheese, mustard, mayonnaise, and potato chips were spread all over the place.

"So...how were your first two classes?" Mike asked nervously. It might have been the first time I had heard him speak, so I was taken aback slightly.

"Well", Cole said, "I had Rocket Science and Aquatics. I would say that the swimming definitely gives you an appetite. I could probably eat ten of these sandwiches".

"I don't know that you answered the question" Will said. "What is Aquatics like? I have it next after lunch, and I haven't been swimming too much. Will I need to know a lot of new things that I don't already?"

"That depends" Cole replied. "Can you tread water? Front crawl? Breaststroke"

"I can tread water, but I'm not too confident in my individual strokes" Will replied, looking a little worried.

"You're gonna be fine" Mike spoke up. "I had Aquatics first period, and they really do give you a thorough brush-up on all of those things. You can do this, Will!"

"Yeah!" Cole said, patting Will on the back.

"Wait a minute" Will said. "Nobody has asked Lucas yet how his first two classes were. We shouldn't just shut him out like that".

"Good point" Cole responded. "Hey, Lucas, what classes did you have first? And what's with the bandages?"

"Long story" I said. "It was bleeding because of hand-to-hand combat in my first class. And then I had Field Medicine, where I had to have it patched up in front of all the other students. Talk about embarrassing!"

"Doesn't sound too bad to me" a guy next to Mike said. He had obviously been there for a little longer than any of us, because he was not among the people that Bill had addressed this morning as being new to the academy.

"Well, it was" I said. "And if you think otherwise, well, that's fine. You weren't in my position".

"Fair enough" the boy with more seniority here replied. Then, he went back to eating his BLT.

"So what else did you do in Field Medicine?" Mike asked, only the third thing I had heard him say all day.

"Well, it was mainly about dressing wounds" Will said. "And according to Lucy, the teacher, we're all going to have to get a tattoo of our blood type eventually".

Cole nodded, as did Mike. I wondered if the New York City boy was afraid of needles. If so, he was going to be in a world of hurt when that came along.

"I've got Flight Simulators last today" Cole said. "I wonder if we'll actually get to fly today".

I snorted. "Probably not, since it's only the first day".

"But there can't be too much for them to teach us before we can actually get started!" Will said quickly.

"I'm sure there is, Will" I replied. "After all, actually flying is dangerous. You might...". I trailed off there, because I remembered that I didn't want to tell my new friends that I might end up needing a double amputation.

"...crash and burn?" Cole tried to finish for me.

"Yeah, that's what I was saying. You might crash, in which case you are kind of fucked".

We all laughed at that, except Mike. The bespectacled boy didn't seem to find cussing very funny, which I didn't blame him for. A lot of people didn't like it when others used swear words, Willow probably being one of them.

 _Willow..._ I looked across the hall, wondering where she was. I found her on the other side, near to the same place that she must have eaten breakfast that morning. I thought of my schedule, and how we only had one class together this afternoon. Simulators.

I had told Cole that I didn't think we would be flying on the first day. I wasn't a hundred percent sure on that, but I sincerely hoped I was right.

* * *

After lunch, we were told that if we had Aquatics, we should go back to our dorm rooms and change into our swimclothes.

It didn't take long to find room 37405, unlike last time. When you knew where to go, it was surprisingly close to the dining hall. I knew that the new students wore the same colors for swimming, purple and turquoise. I looked and saw the name LUCAS ENFIELD on the waistband of the bathing shorts, so I knew that they were mine. Plus, they had been in my luggage, so it was just common sense.

"Where is the pool?" Will asked. I didn't know how to answer that question except with a question of my own.

"Where do you think it is? My guess would be that it's in the basement somewhere".

The pool room was the runaway winner in terms of the hardest classrooms in the school to find. We made no less than twelve wrong turns and hit three dead ends. On two occasions, we disagreed on which route to take, and so we played rock-paper-scissors to determine which way we would try first.

By the time we reached the pool room, which was warm and steamy just like the pool rooms at YMCAs are, we were ten minutes late for the class. The instructor, much like Lucy Hare had, took pity on us and decided not to punish us. She had been waiting for us in order to start the class.

"So" the instructor said. "Aquatics is very important for a member of the Cornerian army, or navy, because what happens if your Arwing lands in water and you don't know how to swim? You'll drown, that's what!"

I didn't see where she was going. I mean, it should have been obvious. But then, she told us what we were going to start out with.

"A hundred yards, front crawl" she said. "One length of this pool is fifty, so you just go to the other side and back. How hard is that?"

I'm a pretty good swimmer, so it wasn't too bad for me. Swimming is one of those things that, once you have learned, you are very unlikely to ever forget.

Even Will was doing well, and he had told me earlier that he had no confidence of his abilities in the water at all. He reached the end of the distance the instructor had told us to swim only about ten seconds after I did.

"Well, class" she said. "I think that it is time that we move on to treading water. You'll have to do it for five minutes, and make sure not to get too tired. If you get tired, you drown. If you drown, you die. It's that simple".

It really was that simple for me, because I knew how to tread water. It might have been a different story for some of the other kids, especially inner-city kids like Will, but my new friend was managing to hold his own against the tendrils of the depths of the pool, which really were not tendrils at all.

This was sure turning out to be an easy class, definitely the easiest one so far, by far. They seemed to be underestimating the fact that, even though we might not all be two-legged Portuguese water dogs like our instructor was, we could still be okay in the water.

Throughout the rest of the class, we did various other exercises, including sharks and minnows, dives, and going to the bottom of the pool to retrieve a ring. That was the curriculum that they were doing for Aquatics, at least for my first day here. I could live with that, but I hoped that they could come up with something new to test me soon. The fact was, I needed more distraction from the fact that my parents had sold me here.

* * *

We were just drying off when Will asked me what I had for my last period, from 1500 to 1700 (my grandparents still used military time, so I was used to it). It turned out that he had the exact same thing as me, Flight Simulators.

Would we get to actually _use_ the flight simulators today? I had figured that it was doubtful, considering the fact that it was only our first day here, but you never had any way of knowing anything for certain. Especially not in something like this.

My life had been somewhat predictable before this, it is true, but there had been a certain level of uncertainty that, as a mildly autistic person, was not easy for me to deal with. Even so, I had always been fairly certain that I would never be tranquilized, abducted, and sent by chopper to the Cornerian military academy. Simply put, that had never been heard of to happen before. Why should things change now?

Of course, things could never be that easy.

Unlike the pool room, Will and I had no problems finding the flight simulator room. How could we have, when it was the most publicized room in the whole place?

There was a long green light on the floor, snaking its way on the route to the simulator room, much like what they have at the Boston Museum Of Science. You would need to be blind to miss it.

As such, we arrived on time, before the teacher started taking attendance. It was a navy falcon on its hind legs. No, it looked more like some kind of tropical bird with its yellow beak, red feathers around its eyes, and the rest of its body being dark blue to indigo in color. Its arms were more like wings, but I wasn't sure if this guy could take off on his own.

As soon as about twenty students were standing in the room, the bird started taking attendance. I was only paying attention at the names, "Lucas Enfield", "William Wexford", and "Willow Foster". Other than that, I was looking around the massive room, the likes of which I had rarely ever seen before.

The room was the size of a large airport terminal. On one end of the wall, there were six metal boxes about six feet tall by four feet wide. I'd seen something like this before, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Hello, class" the teacher said. "My name is Falco Lombardi, and I am the head of the Flight Simulator department of this academy. I will be the one overseeing all of you here today, so...I hope that you all pay close attention, as this system is not without dangers".

I could tell that one of the boys in the back, a rather pudgy kid with red hair, was hanging on to Falco's every word. There was no way that he wanted to be put in danger in case something went wrong with the systems, and, honestly, who could blame him?

"We will not be using them today, since we have several new cadets here today".

I noticed that Cole and Mike were there as well, but I didn't try say hello to them. They were probably just as nervous as I was, so it wouldn't do to make them more nervous than necessary.

"However, here are some things that you should know. These babies can go up to 5 G's in terms of force, so you want to keep calm as much as possible. Make sure not to panic, or else you might end up leading a lot of blood away from your head. That is very dangerous when you are in flight, but luckily it shouldn't happen to you...unless you are very, very prone to fainting episodes, in which your parents will already have signed the waivers, and we will have taken the appropriate measures. Now is not the time to worry about that".

I guessed, based on what Falco was saying, that the appropriate measures for me had involved talking to Katt upon my arrival here.

"There is one red button in the simulator. It is in case you begin to feel nauseous, or faint, or for whatever reason like you might need to leave the simulator immediately. In that case, you press the button, and the contraption will open up. Is that all you guys need to know?" he asked us.

"Yes" the red-haired boy asked.

"What is your name, kid?" Falco asked him.

"My name is...Donnie Guilder" he said nervously, as though there was a bomb nearby that would be set off if he spoke up too loudly. For all I knew, that very well might be the case

"Well, _Donnie_ " Falco said, putting emphasis on the kid's first name as if it was the most pitiful thing ever, "what was your question for me?"

"I'd just like to know", Donnie said, "what will we do once we are inside the simulators?"

Falco smiled. "Well, Donnie, you'll just have to find out when the time comes that we will use them. But it's getting close to dinnertime, anyway. I don't think that I should keep you here too much longer. It is already almost five in the afternoon, which is when this class ends".

I looked at the clock and noticed that Falco was right. He had given us a very extensive safety briefing, which made sense given just how crucial this probably was.

"It's time for you guys to get to dinner. You'd better fuel up for a long day tomorrow!"

I realized that he was right. My stomach was growling, which was not surprising after all of that swimming. And I was also relieved, both that I had completed my first day, and for another reason.

My height had not yet been put to the test.

* * *

 **All right! This was a short chapter, but the thing is that it is kind of a transition chapter. It's not necessarily TOO integral to the plot, but it did have to be included. We still got about 14-15 pages, though. The next chapter is MUCH longer.**

 **Because I may now have multiple chapters in my Doc Manager, I have to be careful not to delete any on accident. For this reason, I am now putting each one in my Google Docs account. This is my insurance in case I do make that mistake. Not like it matters that much to you guys, though.**

 **Answer: I have been to Mexico (there is a story behind that), England, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland. Venice was definitely pretty cool, as was skiing in France. I tend to resent air travel, given my size (I'm a bigger guy), but I still appreciate some destinations. Maybe Russia, or Dubai, someday. Or maybe the Great Barrier Reef. That'd be cool.**

 **Question: What is your favorite fandom on this site?**

 **But seriously, the next chapter is already done and will be put up on Sunday.**


	6. The Glitch Gremlin

**It's nice to have some chapters prepared in advance to upload, but it is a big exercise in self-control. This is my longest chapter yet, at just over seven thousand words. I hope you enjoy it.**

 **I'm currently sitting on a cushion of more than a chapter, being on Chapter 8. I think that's pretty cool. This chapter's title is an AVGN reference.**

 **Tomorrow, I will be adding another chapter to Lorax, a very short one. Partly because I want the last update on a special day, so that it'll always say December 12 up there, which is my half-birthday. It's an especially significant date because it was a late relative's actual birthday.**

 **Answer: I like The Hunger Games, Pokémon, Star Fox, and a lot of other video games. There are other fandoms that I read, but do not write for. In the future, I might attempt a Maximum Ride fic.**

 **Question: Add up all of your views on this site. What is the result?**

 **You might be wondering why the Q & A are at the top of the page. That's because I didn't want to ruin the ending of the chapter. Maybe you can guess what's coming, maybe not. (Actually, if you have seen my Mario Kart 8 videos, you will now what is coming at the end). But I hope you enjoy anyways.**

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

There it was again. For whatever reason, based on what I could see of Lucas from my vantage point in the room, he seemed to be very relieved that we would _not_ be using the flight simulators today. Why? Why not just get it over with, in order to get the butterflies out of his stomach?

It really did look cool, what we would be doing there soon enough. I personally could not get in that cockpit soon enough, since I had always dreamed of flying like a bird, and using an Arwing, or whatever that little spaceship was called, might be as close as I could get. But I didn't know if Lucas felt the same way.

After Flight Simulators was over, we were led back to the dining hall, and from there back to my dormitory, number 94569. This room was for girls who had only recently started attending the academy, but unlike the boys' dormitory, it was quite a bit harder to find. You had to take a convoluted route to get there, and it went something like this:

You had to follow an orange-lit hallway out of the dining hall, which would take you to a fork in the path. You had to turn left and climb up two flights of stairs, followed by going up a slanted stairwell behind a large, exquisite fountain. It looked like something you would see out of Renaissance-era Europe, not something you'd see in a futuristic flight academy in an alternate dimension. Of course, it wasn't as if I should have expected anything within the ordinary at this point.

After the statue, which was of Falco Lombardi and Katt Monroe, the feline who had examined Lucas, you went up the stairwell and through a purple hallway to my dorm room, which was on the sixth floor of the academy. I wondered just how many floors this place had, and if it was twenty or more, why even bother with all of the stairs? Why not elevators clearly marked, so that you could get to where you were going? I guessed that they just needed a lot of extra space for what they were doing at this school.

* * *

My dormitory was shared with five other girls. Their names were Michelle, Ericka, Allison, Nena, and Olivia. I had some of my classes with some of them, but all of the girls did have Flight Simulators together at the end of the day.

Michelle was a slight girl from Huntsville, Alabama. Her parents were professors at the university there, and she had often been shown around the campus, so that she could see what it might be like for her to attend. She also had a Southern accent, and she was generally pleasant to be around. I felt that I might consider her my friend.

Ericka was from western Texas, and she had an even more pronounced accent than Michelle. She always seemed to be looking down at her feet, as if she was very shy. It was clear when she wanted to talk, because she always had her ears perked up, as if she didn't want to miss the chance to jump in on a conversation. It made me think that she must have grown up in some lonely small town with no one to talk to. And it made me feel somewhat sorry for her.

Allison was a rather prissy girl who only ever seemed to care about fashion, One Direction, and doing her hair. Her bag, which was hot pink, the most stereotypically girly color you could possibly imagine, was full of hair products, fancy Victoria's Secret panties, and photos of her favorite teen actors. It should come as no surprise that she was from suburban Los Angeles.

Nena was a girl with a German accent from Wisconsin. She always loved to sing in German, especially her favorite song, "99 Luftballons". I didn't think that I needed to remind her that it was actually a song about nuclear war, and was therefore not a happy thing to sing about at a military academy. No doubt she knew that already. Also, she had a _constant_ habit of talking over everybody at mealtimes. So annoying, but not nearly as bad as Allison.

And then we had Olivia, who was very quiet and had, as of the first evening that I was at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, not spoken a single word to me. I had not gauged her personality yet as a result, but I could tell that, back at home, the popular clique would have rejected her without saying a word. That was the thing about cliques, after all.

In any case, the six of us all returned to the dorm from our Flight Simulators class, and there we were allowed to change into different clothes. We were not required to wear our uniforms to dinner, which was a relief. I wanted to be Willow Foster for a while, not someone who constantly worried about what kind of military maneuvers she would be learning the next day.

I was looking forward to seeing what dishes would be available for dinner. Breakfast had been the general buffet, as I guessed was probably the usual custom for when they had new students, but lunch had been sandwiches. What would dinner be?

* * *

Once I reached the table for pink and scarlet girls, Bill Grey went back up to the podium. He congratulated us on making through another day of training, and after saying, "I am sure that you have all worked up a great appetite today. It is time...for some _pizza!_ "

Platters of what appeared to be piping-hot pizza rose above the table, to a height of about nine inches above the tabletop. This was not the round type of pizza, cut into eight slices, that you're used to ordering. This pizza was square, and cut into square slices, which were generally thicker than you got at your average takeout pizza joint in the USA.

I wondered where they got all of this food from. Was it made here? I doubted that, but it didn't matter. All I knew was that I loved pizza, so I dug into the nearest one, which had pepperoni and jalapeños on it.

"Don't overdo it with those" Michelle said as soon as I bit into it. "You don't want to eat too much spicy food. Not when you have class tomorrow!"

"All right, Michelle" I said, but on the inside I was thinking, _Screw that. Don't act all moralistic since you're from the South._

Michelle had been right, though. The pizza had a certain level of kick to it that it seemed like normal jalapeños didn't. Maybe something in the cheese added to it.

I ate two slices of the chili pepper pizza and one slice of Hawaiian, and I enjoyed every bite of it. If it sucked to have been sold by your parents to this school, at least the food didn't suck.

Once it seemed that everyone in the dining hall had eaten their fill, the other girls sitting near me stood up. I didn't know what they were doing, but then I noticed that the people, like a river, all seemed to be flowing towards one direction out of the enormous room.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"It's for evening meeting" Ericka said. "It's every night".

Then, I remembered my schedule, which was still tucked away in my bag, which was still tucked away in room 94569. Excuse me for not remembering exactly what was going to happen at this time.

I had no choice but to follow the tide of human beings that was pushing me towards a large auditorium, or at least what appeared to be one. I had no idea what was about to be said here, but there was no way to find out except to see it for myself.

* * *

Once all several hundred of us were present, Bill Grey walked up out of a door behind the stage. He cleared his throat, and then he stood up to his full height of 5 feet, 9 inches. At least, that was what he had told us that his height was. It was hard to tell from here.

The auditorium was enormous, the size of the Capitol building in Washington DC. Seats were arranged all over the place, making it look like a massive party rather than a formal meeting. Pretty much everyone sat with their dormmates, but I managed to find a place that was next to them on one side, and Lucas was on the other side of me.

 _This is perfect!_ I thought.

Of course, I couldn't just talk to him about anything romantic when we were surrounded by hundreds of other people who would catch on right away. No, that would just be stupid. We had to find some way to sneak out at night or something.

Just how possible was that?

"Well, I would like to once again thank all of you for not rebelling against the system today. I know that you all must have wanted to very much, given everything that we have been making you do".

There was some sporadic laughter all over the room, but there really wasn't too much of it, which didn't surprise me too much.

"First things first, I would like to remind our new students of the rules. They are not to leave the dormitories after curfew, and lights are out by ten sharp. In addition, if you are caught out in the hallways, you face detention. Secondly, follow all of the instructions that your teachers give you. They might seem arbitrary, but it is important to remember that they have your best interests at heart, and so do I. I will do whatever it takes to protect all of you.

"Okay. Now that we have gone over some of the ground rules, let us introduce our new students. We have...Cole McCallen!"

One of the boys that had been in Flight Simulators, hanging near Lucas the whole time, stood up and saluted the Cornerian flag, or what I assumed was the Cornerian flag. It consisted of the same red logo of a flying pig that I had seen on the side of the helicopter that had taken us here. However, it was against a yellow background rather than a white one.

"William Wexford?"

The African-American boy, who also seemed to be one of Lucas's new friends, stood up and saluted the flag.

After Michael Kirk, a nerdy-looking kid with glasses and oily hair, stood up, it was Lucas's turn.

When "Lucas Enfield?" was called, my boyfriend, if you could call him that, stood up. I was a little surprised that he would do it, but he saluted the Cornerian flag as well. He seemed eager to be here, but it might have just been an act. At this point, very little could have surprised me.

My heart started pounding after Lucas sat back down. I knew that there was only one new student left to stand up tonight, and I also knew who that student happened to be.

"Willow Foster?"

 _Do I? Or don't I?_

I decided that the pros of standing up would greatly outweigh the cons of doing so, so that was the choice that I made. It might have been going against everything that my mind was telling me, but I stood.

 _Too late! I did!_

I saluted the Cornerian flag, feeling a sense of duty towards it. Deep down, I _knew_ that this was wrong. Why would I be saluting the same system that my parents had sold me to?

When I saw Bill Grey looking at me, though, I got the sense that he wanted me to give some kind of a speech, even though none of the boys, including Lucas, had given one. I wasn't sure what I was going to say, but I knew that I should say _something._

"I'd just like to say...that I have enjoyed my first day here very much. I'm learning a lot of different military things, and that never would have happened back at home. The food here is really good, too. I hope that I can be of as much use to the war effort as possible".

Those words had just come out of my mouth before I had had a chance to stop them, as if they were using my tongue as a diving board. What had I been thinking?

Hundreds of people all around me, in various colors of clothes now that they were not required to wear their uniforms, clapped and cheered for me. In the words of Auggie Pullman, I believe everyone should have at least one standing ovation in their lifetimes. And for me, this was the one.

* * *

After my speech was over, I followed the same path back up to room 94569, remembering to go in the same way past the fountain and from the orange hallway to the purple one as before.

I looked in my bag. It contained several books, as well as a picture of our class from last year. I looked at it, and I saw that it featured Lucas fairly prominently. He was standing in the back for Picture Day due to being in the top third of our class in terms of height.

And I wondered if, just maybe, I could find another time to see him now that we were both at this school and would have a hard time getting to each other alone.

It really had been a crazy day, I thought. Between getting shot with a tranquilizer dart, passing out, being taken by helicopter to this school, having meals from plates that rose up onto the table, not to mention all of the classes that had happened between then and now.

I wondered if tomorrow, and every day after that, would be every bit as bizarre as the day I had just finished.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

My four-poster bed was right next to the window of my dorm room. If there was any negative to this, it was that during the summer, when the sun rose earlier, I would be woken up earlier by the light coming into the room. Since it was December right now, I would have thought that the sun would have risen a lot later, but that was just not what seemed to be the case on Corneria.

I was woken at what was, according to the digital clock on the wall of the dorm room, 5:34 AM. Still almost an hour before I would even be allowed to leave the room. At various overnight summer camps, I had had this experience before, because I was a natural early riser. Sleeping in just didn't come naturally to me.

I looked around, desperate for anything to do. But instead, I found myself looking at my schedule. Using a small flashlight from my bag, I managed to read what it said today.

LUCAS ZANTRY ENFIELD HAS (DECEMBER 14, 201X):

0700-BREAKFAST

0730-CLEAN UP  


0800-ARCHERY

0930- AQUATICS

1100-STUDY HALL

1200-LUNCH

1245-REST HOUR

1345-SIMULATORS

1545-ENGINEERING

1700-SHOWER HOUR

1800-DINNER

1900-EVENING MEETING

2000-RETURN TO DORMITORIES

2200-LIGHTS OUT

So I had simulators again today. Hopefully, we would actually get to learn how to use them. I had a certain anxiety, a desire to get things over with just so I could see how bad the Gz forces would be. Whether or not I would need to have my legs amputated.

I most certainly did not want that to happen. Looking out my window, I could see the wide expanses of green that were known as the Cornerian Plains, and I also saw some of the cold white glaciers of the mountains. I wondered if we would ever go on any day trips outside of the area enclosed in the protective climate bubble, and if so, what we would do there? Would there be any training in the mountains?

It wasn't impossible. Neither was waiting for breakfast, which did eventually come. With Mike, Will, and Cole, I walked down to the dining hall. Having made this journey several times already, I had finally managed to figure out the way, and so had the others.

Hopefully, this helped signify my coming to a new understanding of the ways of this place, and then this would seem a little more _normal._

* * *

Once everyone was at their respective tables, the platters of food rose up _Hunger Games-_ style once again. It wasn't the most shocking thing after seeing this happen three times already, but it was still a sight to behold.

The dishes weren't as numerous as before. Today, it was toast, sausage, and apples for breakfast. Since I liked all of those things, I didn't have any problem with that.

Like I had yesterday, I tried to make some small talk with my neighbors, but they didn't seem too interested this time. I guessed that everyone was just too nervous for what was going to be going on today. Which was fair, considering that we had the flight simulators again, and this time we were likely to use them.

It was only after all of the dishes had disappeared, and Cole and I were walking together to our next class, that he made an attempt to talk to me. I wasn't expecting it, so it caught me a little off guard.

"Hey, Lucas?" he said, in a voice that sounded almost dangerous.

I didn't want to refuse him, so I said, "Yes?"

"I'm kind of scared today, what with doing all of these things. I'd just like to tell you a little more of my story, and how I ended up here. Is that okay with you?"

"That's fine" I replied. And really, it was. I wanted Cole McCallen to be a little bit less of a mystery to me.

Cole leaned in next to my ear as we went down the thirty flights of stairs to the archery range, which was very deep in the basement of the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. This is what he told me.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, not one of the best cities for a scared white boy in a black neighborhood. My parents, Lauren and Curtis, either did not or could not raise me, so they put me up for adoption.

I was adopted by the couple of Christine and Paul McCallen when I was five years old. As much as I loved my adoptive parents, at least before they sold me off to this place, I always had one toe over the line, as in I did a lot of things that were ethically questionable, and definitely not allowed.

My earliest memory was from when I was three years old. Before I got adopted, I was having a playdate with one of the neighborhood kids at his house. I wasn't even thinking of doing this at first, but I realized that this was what I was going to do. I kept on looking for some moment that I could steal the other kid's toys.

When the other kid's bladder began acting up, and he decided that he needed to go to the bathroom, I realized that this was my chance. Being the sneaky little boy that I was, I seized the fact that he had left his toys on the floor to pick them up and stuff them in my pockets.

You should've seen the expression on the other kid's face when he got back from the bathroom!

So, yeah, my whole stealing habit pretty much stemmed from there. Looking back on it, I realize that the reason I was put up for adoption might have been because my biological parents didn't want such a naughty kid as their son. Which doesn't excuse it, but whatever. I still have a desire to meet them someday, and maybe I will, once all of this is said and done.

As I have said, I was adopted when I was five. From there on out, my passion for stealing and breaking the rules only increased. Now that my new parents seemed to love me unconditionally, I took advantage of that. I continued to steal, but I fully realized that this might just be my thing when I was eleven, and, with my friends, stole a pack of gum as part of a dare. And, since then, things had gotten more and more intense.

I've stolen food from stores, broken into buildings, and vandalized other people's property. I always make sure not to stay home for too long (because I get bored easily if that happens), and I never want anyone to steal from me. You might call me a hypocrite for this, but it is true.

I'm not proud of all of this, but I'm just telling it like it is. Judge me if you want, Lucas.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

The whole time that we were going down to archery, Cole was very careful not to whisper too loudly for fear that someone might overhear. Even so, I could tell the hurt in his voice, and I realized what he was thinking.

What if his adoptive parents had sold him here because of what he had done? He seemed to be showing some remorse now, but it might be fake. I still considered him my friend, but I might never be able to look at him the same way again, knowing now that he had been involved in criminal activities back where he was from. It definitely opened up my eyes a little more.

It really was a sad story, but the thing was that I didn't have much more time to dwell on it. Reason being, we were now at the room for Archery, our first class of our second day at Grey Clouds Flight Academy.

As soon as we entered the room, we were greeted by yet another awe-inspiring sight. There was a range of about thirty yards, but you could also do it from ten, fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five. Of course, I presumed that there would be some sort of precaution, based on my experience from summer camps, where you could only go up and retrieve your arrows once everyone was finished firing.

The bows were hanging off a rack on the other side of the room, except that this was a futuristic-looking one, and the bows didn't look like the kind that Robin Hood would have used. No, _these_ bows were more like the type that Katniss Everdeen would have used in the Capitol.

Our instructor for this class was what appeared to be an anthropomorphic owl. She looked very stern, and I could tell that this was one person, if you could call it that, who you did not want to cross. I saw her handle a bow when she was greeting us.

She wasn't pointing it at us, but I had no doubt that she would fire at will, and she would not fail to hit her target. If she hit you, the arrow itself might not kill you, but you'd probably have to go to the infirmary.

"Hello, class" she said, as she casually released her arrow, watching it hit the bull's-eye from what must have been at least forty yards. Some of my classmates gasped in awe, but I managed to keep my composure. After all, it was only to be expected given that she appeared to be the archery teacher.

"My name is Mrs. Hooter, and I am the archery instructor at this academy. I expect all of you to be on your _very best behavior_ here, or else do you know what will happen to you? Huh? Do you?"

Cole stiffened. I could tell that, based on what he had told me earlier, he really didn't want to be killed.

Mrs. Hooter let her arrow fly, once again cleanly hitting the yellow center of the target.

"You're going to end up in the infirmary getting blood from someone else put into your body!" she semi-shouted, without pausing for breath. She also sounded very angry, almost to the point of shrieking. I knew that this wasn't an idle threat.

I'd read that Hollywood made arrows look a lot more deadly than they really were, but that only referred to Earthly arrows. On Corneria, they could be something completely different. In all likelihood, that was the case.

After that outburst, Mrs. Hooter seemed to mellow out a little bit. Not that I considered her any less dangerous if crossed, but I didn't think I was in imminent danger of being shot with an arrow any longer.

"You don't want that, do you?" she asked us. I figured that was a rhetorical question.

"All right, then. If you don't want that to be you, and trust me that this has happened several times here, then you will shoot five people, four arrows at a time, each from the same distance. When I blow the whistle, you may begin shooting. When I blow two whistles, you may go and collect your arrows. When I blow three whistles, the next group can go up and get ready. Do you get all of that?"

The entire room nodded their assent to these rules.

"All right. Our first group is Samuel, Leon, Nicholas, Steve, and Lucas. You know who you are, people. Get to it!"

* * *

The bow felt lighter in my hands than those I was used to. I had only had marginal experience with archery, at the summer camps that I had been to, but I got the feeling that this couldn't be too different from that. I was no Mrs. Hooter, but I should be able to land at least two or three arrows in that target, right?

Wrong. When Mrs. Hooter blew the whistle, I found myself with a much shakier hand than I had realized. I let go of the first arrow on accident, and it hit the ground not fifteen feet from where we were shooting (ten yards away from the targets).

Desperate to make up for that, I tried aiming the arrow a little higher. It sailed above the target and barely nicked the top of it before crashing to the ground.

I was beginning to get irritated with this. Why couldn't I do this? Maybe I was too nervous about what would be coming later today. Flight simulators.

My third arrow was aimed a little lower. As it turned out, too low. Much like my first arrow, it hit the ground well before the target, and it almost stuck into the floor. It was a good thing that the floor was not made out of clay, or else I might have broken the arrow when I later took it out of the ground.

Since I was very quick, I had nocked my fourth arrow before Cole had shot his second. I noticed that his first arrow was in the yellow bull's-eye, just like Mrs. Hooter had gotten it. I didn't think too much of it at first, thinking that Cole must have just been a real crack shot.

I aimed my fourth arrow in between where I had done my previous two. It was a shot in the dark, but it seemed to be the best idea given where my previous two arrows had ended up. I pulled the drawstring back and let it fly.

It hit the red area of the target, a little before the center (the colors being white, black, blue, red, and yellow, going from the outside of the target to the bull's-eye). At least, it did before some unseen force caused the arrow to bounce out of the target, going nearly five feet back before falling back to the ground.

With no more arrows left, I decided to watch Cole, who had now shot three of his arrows. One had hit the bull's-eye. One had landed in the blue area, while the third had made it into the red, but close to the yellow.

I wondered if Cole was naturally this good at archery, or if...oh, I got it now.

I made a mental note; would I ask Cole if he had ever shot anyone with a gun? If so, that would explain his archery skills.

* * *

After Archery was over, I had Aquatics with Mike and Will, but not Cole. He had Engineering, which was my last class of the day today.

This time, I had little trouble finding my dorm room once again, and from there I got my swim clothes on and headed down to the pool room. I didn't go with my other classmates, because they had gotten back to the dormitory either before or after me, I didn't know which.

Once I was there, I noticed that I was not late for once. That was a relief to know. The teacher was also present, and she had a look on her face that told me that she meant business in terms of teaching us today.

"Today, class, you will each have to hold your breath underwater for twenty seconds. The buzzer will go off when you are allowed to resurface, and you should be able to hear it down there in the water".

Will looked very nervous, and I didn't blame him for that. For someone who had as little confidence in his abilities in the water as Will did, it seemed that he might think it very dangerous to go underwater for twenty seconds. Truth be told, I was not that much more confident.

If I held my breath for about twenty-five seconds, I started to feel hot and panic from the lack of oxygen. In this case, we would only be under for five seconds less than that. I didn't think that it would be possible to do it for longer than thirty.

Even so, once the teacher blew her whistle, all of us, including Will, submerged themselves in the pool. It wasn't too bad for me, given that it was only twenty seconds. Even so, I did suffer under there, and I was only too happy when the buzzer went off and I was allowed to resurface.

When I got back up to the surface, I saw that everyone else had as well.

"Congratulations, cadets. You have all passed this test. Now, it's time to practice your front crawl again".

We did more strokes, as well as some more treading water, over the next hour. By the end of it, my mouth was dry, and my limbs felt like jelly. This was some serious training!

After all of that, I could not wait to get some lunch before my next class.

* * *

Will and I arrived back in the dining hall to find that lunch was hamburgers today. All of the fixings, like lettuce, tomato, pickles, cheese, and onions, were there, as well as plenty of buns. It smelled great, and I was fairly sure that it was going to taste great as well.

I was not disappointed.

"These burgers are **awesome**!" Mike said, which might have only been the fourth time in two days that I had ever heard him speak.

I nodded. It really was one of the best hamburgers that I had ever had, and I'm being completely serious on that. The only thing was, I kept looking over at the hallway to my dormitory. I didn't remember why at first, and as I ate and chatted with Cole, I became increasingly nervous. _What_ was drawing my gaze towards that stairwell?

It was only after lunch, and climbing up three flights of stairs to the fourth floor of the school, that I reached the dorm room again for Rest Hour. This consisted of sitting back on your bed and either reading, drawing, or trying to sleep. I wasn't too big a fan of it (I would rather have just gone to the next class straight away), but I knew that I had to do it just like everybody else at this school.

About halfway through Rest Hour, I put down the book I was reading and looked over at my schedule. And then, it hit me as to why I had been so nervous.

The next class was Flight Simulators.

* * *

I tried to act normal when the other guys in my dormitory decided to start making their way down to the flight simulator room, and I hoped they couldn't tell that I was experiencing a high level of anxiety at the moment. If they could, they would probably end up constantly badgering me about what was wrong, and why I was so worried about the class.

I wasn't sure if trying to keep my breathing deep and calm could make me less likely to pass out, but it seemed that that would probably help a little. The faster I breathed, the more likely it would be that they would have to amputate my legs. That was the key thing to remember.

As we walked down to the room, I once again found myself hoping that we somehow wouldn't have to do it today.

Falco Lombardi was once again the teacher of the class, not like that should have changed. He went through a lot more of the basic rules and regulations, although he said it in a way that made us all think that something was different here than it had been yesterday.

And indeed, I was correct.

"It is now time that all of you will, individually, go into the simulator and try to get as high a score as you can in the video game inside. The simulator will turn just as an Arwing would, so that is one thing to keep in mind. Now, we'll draw for spots, and let's get started".

* * *

We all picked rocks out of a bag that Falco seemed to always be carrying with him. Each rock had a number on it that would dictate what order the cadets would use the flight simulators in. For instance, rock 1 would be first, rock 2 would be second, and so on.

I picked rock number four, meaning that I was going to be the fourth person to enter the simulator. I felt much the same way that you do when you are near the front of the line in order to get on a very scary roller coaster. You don't want to get on, you know that it will be terrifying, but you also know that you will need to or else embarrass yourself in a very big way.

The first person to go in was Cole. He must have been in there for around ten minutes, during which time the simulator went up and down, and eventually, towards the end, into a nosedive. I didn't know if that increased the Gz forces on the body or what, but I was about to find out. Throughout the whole time Cole was in there, I saw Falco with a headset on, communicating things to Cole that I could not quite make out.

Cole got out of the simulator, looking a little unsteady on his feet but otherwise unharmed. Of course, Cole was only 5'9", whereas I was 6'2". There was no way to guarantee that everything would be the same way with me, although I sure as hell _hoped_ that it would.

The next two cadets went in and out of the simulator, both of them looking not too different from Cole McCallen. I would be fine. Probably. Almost certainly. That was what I told myself.

Finally, Falco said, "Lucas Enfield! It's your turn!"

I walked over to the simulator and climbed into it. Falco helped me adjust the harness, like he had for the other three cadets who had come before me. Then, he winked at me, saying "Good luck, Lucas".

Then, he closed the door, and the simulator whirred to life.

* * *

At first, things were going great. The machine seemed to be making small movements, and I definitely was doing a good job in staying focused on what was going on on the screen. I noticed that the display looked like we were about to be going into a level from Star Fox 64.

"Choose your difficulty. Will you do Sector Y, Zoness, or Area 6?"

"Sector Y, Lucas. Everyone else is doing the easiest difficulty setting first. Don't worry, it's just like a video game. You like those, don't you?"

I tapped the button for Sector Y, the "beginner" difficulty, even though it was on the hard route in the game. Almost immediately, I was thrust into the same level from the game. I recognized this, didn't I?

I knew that I had played this level before, so I quickly got into the groove. I had never flown a real plane, though, but an amusement park ride I had been on when I was younger had similar controls. You had to push on the wheel in the opposite direction of the one you wanted to go. Of course, there was a world of difference between that and being an actual pilot, and no doubt I would acquire other skills related to this.

 _Focus, Lucas,_ I thought. And it was true.

Enemies seemed to be hounding me even at this easy level, and I wondered if Cole had played a lot of video games back in Michigan. I knew that you would need to be skilled in order to avoid getting hit even once.

Speaking of getting hit, it soon became clear that this was not a normal video game. Every time I got hit with a laser, the machine I was in jerked, which knocked me about a little bit. Luckily, I was harnessed in, so I wasn't going to end up upside down on the ceiling. At least, I sure as hell hoped not.

Every so often, I got commands from Falco as to what to do. For instance, at the part of the level where you are given the choice to go up or down, he told me to go up, as it would give me the most practice. I saw no reason not to obey him, so that was what I did.

As soon as I had gotten a score of 40, somewhat pleased with myself, something out of the ordinary began to happen. Even more out of the ordinary than the last two days had been.

The module began doing uncontrollable barrel rolls, or, according to the Game Theory show on YouTube, Aileron rolls. I was flipping over and over again, much like Darth Vader's TIE fighter, or a broken teacup ride at an amusement park. There was nothing I could do in order to stop it. And I had not seen it happen to anyone else, so why me?

I could hear through the headset that Falco was uttering some choice words about it. Clearly, this was not supposed to happen.

I tried to continue enjoying the ride. However, I was soon flipping to the point that I could barely see. In addition, I began feeling nauseous, as if I had eaten much more than I should have at Thanksgiving dinner. Almost immediately, I knew that I was in danger of having a five-star Cornerian burger end up plastered, covered in mucus, all over the inside of the flight simulator.

Luckily, I managed to swallow back my nausea. Unluckily, that wasn't the end of it. The next terror was far worse.

I began feeling hot flashes all over my body. My stomach was still churning, but not nearly as badly as it had been before. It was as though I was in a heated room wearing a fur coat. I had never been this hot in my life.

 _What_ was going on?

I heard Falco say something, probably to ask me if I was okay due to the fact that I wasn't saying much, but I couldn't make out what. It was as though I was underwater. I could still see the screen somewhat, but it was dark and blurry, the way things sometimes were if I stood up quickly after lying down and not drinking enough water.

And _still_ it kept spinning around. I felt like I was in danger of vomiting again. If that happened, there was no doubt in my mind that Falco would get me out of here.

That was, if he even could.

I didn't worry about it for too much longer, however. This wasn't for the reason that you might think.

The last of my vision and hearing faded, and so did my thoughts as I was thrown backwards for the final time and passed out.


	7. The Tables Turn

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! And yes, the reason that I did not put the questions at the bottom like normal is because I didn't want to ruin the ending. In fact, I'm going to have the Q & A here for every chapter, or at least most of them, from here on out.**

 **Also, congratulations to Adam Klein for winning Survivor: Millennials Vs. Gen X! He didn't even need the final immunity, and while I strongly suspect it was largely due to his mother having terminal cancer, he was still a better winner than Ken or Hannah would have been. As you know, I am a Survivor fanboy. Just look at my DeviantArt.**

 **Answer: Lorax has passed four thousand views. I have over 11,000 total.**

 **Question: I have never fainted before. For those of you who have, did I describe the feeling accurately?**

 **With that out of the way, it is time for the chapter!**

* * *

I woke up feeling like I was still spinning around, although better than I had before I had passed out. I felt something cold beneath me, and wondered what it might be. Could I be lying on clouds?

Then, my hearing came back, and I heard a little bit of beeping from all over the room I was in. It was so annoying...what was that?

Eventually, I managed to open my eyes. And when I did, I noticed the sight that greeted me.

I was lying on the floor, Falco holding my legs in the air. That must have been why I was so cold, and yet I still felt so woozy. There must have been medics around me or something. I saw boxes of things in their arms.

"What...happened?" I asked.

When Falco noticed that I was conscious, he gently let my legs down to the floor. Then, he tried to answer as carefully as possible, although this wasn't necessary; I knew the implications of what had just happened.

"You passed out, Lucas. As soon as I suspected something was wrong, we stopped the simulator- somehow it was able to be stopped _now,_ but not before you fainted- and found you unconscious inside. The medical team was summoned in here, we undid your harness, and here we are now. You were only out for about two minutes".

I nodded, trying to process that information. It was tough, because I was still pretty dizzy.

"I'm fine" I said. "The simulator just spun around a little too much for me and I passed out. It's that simple".

"It's not, though" Falco replied. "This doesn't just happen all the time, you know. Only a few people in the last year have lost consciousness in the flight simulator, although yours _was_ spinning more than usual. Maybe it was some kind of glitch, but it'll need to be investigated further".

That was when I noticed that there wasn't a single person in the room who wasn't staring squarely at me. Some looked slack-jawed, some were whispering things that I still couldn't hear.

"You don't need to take me to the infirmary or anything" I said stubbornly. "I'm okay, and you know it".

To prove my point, I tried to move from a sitting position to a standing one. But as soon as I made it five steps, I ended up falling down again, like a marionette whose strings had been cut. I didn't black out again, and it didn't particularly hurt, but it definitely sapped a little more of my pride. Already, I felt like such a wuss for fainting during my very first flight simulation.

"Whoa there, Mr. Enfield. You've gotta take it easy" Falco said.

One member of the medical team who had been summoned, who wore a name tag identifying him as Dr. Smith, said, "His blood pressure and oxygen levels are both normal, and his heart rate seemed to be perfectly fine as well. I think he's going to be okay, but make sure he takes it easy for the rest of the day. He's not going to his next class".

I felt a small spark of rage at that. "What do you mean? I _have_ to go to Engineering! I don't want to be left in the dust like everyone else!"

"I know, Lucas, but there is a lot of dangerous stuff in the Engineering lab, and you might hurt yourself on it. So soon after passing out, I don't think you'd be able to handle it safely. I'm sorry, it's not my decision".

 _Well, that's great. Just great._

"What am I supposed to do for the next two hours before dinner, then?" I asked.

"You're going to come to the infirmary just to make sure" Dr. Smith said. "Just a precaution".

I looked at Falco, hoping that he would give me a pass. Unfortunately, he nodded curtly, telling me that I would have to go along with Dr. Smith.

"Sorry, Lucas. Again, not my decision".

It sure seemed as though Falco was saying that a lot. However much I outwardly proclaimed that I was fine, inwardly I still felt slightly woozy. If my fall from earlier had not illustrated that clearly enough, I didn't know what would.

* * *

They were going to bring down a wheelchair, but I insisted on walking. Even so, Dr. Smith insisted on holding me between him and Katt, who had been summoned as a result of my blackout. I didn't know what would happen if I was not supported by them, but I didn't want to risk it.

Luckily, the afternoon classes were still going on, so there weren't too many people in the halls at the moment. Whenever we passed by people, though, it was very embarrassing, a 6'2" sixteen-year-old being supported by two of the staff members. That was not something that you saw every day, and I was glad that nobody tried to take a picture.

As for what was going on at the moment, they took me into the infirmary, which did not look quite like I expected. You might expect it to like like a stereotypical hospital room, with white tiled floors, machines tucked into one corner (or hooked up to patients when necessary), and maybe a couple doors leading off to it, with a lot of beeping.

For the most part, that was what I saw, except for the beeping. No other patients were in the infirmary right now. Also, the walls were not the sterile white color that was traditional for hospitals. Instead, they were the color of the ocean in Maine, a deep blue, and the floor was tiled gray, except for the occasional orange, blue, or chartreuse tiles that were occasionally added in.

All in all, it looked pretty clean, probably better than the average American hospital.

Katt showed me to where I would be staying. "It's just a bed, Lucas, no blankets or anything. You just sit there until dinnertime, when you may eat with the others".

I nodded as I sat on the bed. It looked like your standard bed in the nurse's office at school, with the blue cushions that seemed built into it.

Before she left, Katt said, "I will leave the doctor to take a look at you before dinnertime. Until then, just try to relax. Are you still feeling dizzy?"

I shook my head, which was the truth. I was feeling a lot better than I had, ever since I had made the stupid decision to try to stand up and walk so soon after fainting.

Soon, a doctor came in. It wasn't Dr. Smith, this one was a woman. She seemed to be some kind of Bengal tiger, which I questioned why that was supposed to be comforting for patients.

"Hello, Lucas. I am Dr. Howler, and I am one member of the Grey Clouds Medical Team. Since I'm on duty right now, I'm the one who will be keeping an eye on you this afternoon. Tell me if there is anything you need".

* * *

It was a very long two hours for me in the infirmary. I didn't have anyone to talk to, because Dr. Howler seemed to be busy with some papers at her desk. I also didn't have anything from my dormitory to entertain myself with, and I was still wondering what Willow must have been thinking. Hell, I wondered what Cole, Mike, and Will were thinking right now.

 _Do they think I'm some kind of_ wimp?

I sure hoped not. I had known them for less than two days, but during that time I had gotten to a point where, at least for Will and Cole, I could call them friends. If they no longer had faith in me to take care of myself, that was a problem. And they might also think that someone was out to get me, since they knew that something had gone wrong with the simulator. This, too, might lead them to think that I was a magnet for trouble.

That would also make me lose them as friends.

I was still pondering this when Dr. Howler came back in order to check my vital signs. Once again, my temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure were normal.

"You are good to go, Lucas Enfield. Keep in mind that you will not be able to eat breakfast tomorrow morning, so be sure to eat well tonight. The reason for this is because you have a tilt-table test in the morning".

"Okay" I said. I was never one to go against a doctor's orders. If you knew what was good for you, you did not piss off the white mage.

And with that, I walked out of the hospital wing.

* * *

It wasn't hard to find the dining hall again. The infirmary was only a few turns away from it, and there were clear arrows, attached to the red Swiss cross used to symbolize anything related to medical care, that led the way to and from the dining hall and the hospital wing. Really, you would have to be an idiot not to follow them.

I found my friends still at the purple/turquoise table. Dinner had not yet been served, and I noticed that they were having what sounded like a very involved conversation between the three of them. Will, Cole, and even Mike were still talking when I saw them, but as soon as they noticed me, they dropped their conversation and began looking at me.

"Hey, Lucas" Mike said. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, how are you doing?" Will asked.

I held up my right hand like someone testifying in a court of law. "I'm fine. Just forced to spend two hours in the infirmary. How was Engineering, guys?"

Although I myself had not been to that class, the other three all had either today or yesterday. They'd shown me their Sunday schedules at lunch.

"There's a lot of number-crunching to do, and lots of dodging dangerous objects" Cole said.

"I fucking _love_ math" I said, causing Mike to gasp. "I'm not so good at fine motor things, though".

"It's not like they're being thrown at you" Will said. "You're going to be fine".

 _Yeah, I sure hope so._

"Except I'm not doing it tomorrow, either" I said.

This caused a shocked expression to appear on the faces of Will and Cole. Mike still had a shocked expression on his face from when I had dropped the F-bomb earlier.

"Chill out, Mike" I said. "It's one word, four letters. Used to express frustration or exclamation. Or to talk about sex. We're _sixteen years old._ It's no big deal".

Mike nodded, although he still looked nervous. Was there some reason that he was nervous, other than social stuff? I didn't know.

"So why aren't you going to Engineering tomorrow, Lucas?" Cole asked me.

I saw no reason to lie to these people. "I have to do a tilt-table test tomorrow. They're gonna strap me to a table and turn it to see if I pass out again. This is to see if there's any problem with my heart".

Cole and Will both looked shocked. They hadn't known me for too long, but I could tell that they definitely were shocked by the idea that I might have a heart problem. If I did, they might feel let down at having a person who they thought was a lasting friend turn out to be a ticking time bomb.

"I'm probably fine, though. You did see how much that thing was spinning around".

"I wonder if it was a glitch or something?" Cole said. "You know, I played a lot of video games back in Michigan. I know what I'm talking about".

I considered telling Cole that they suspected that the flight simulator had been tampered with, but I decided against it. This was because there were a lot of other people near us whom I must certainly did _not_ want hearing it.

The food rose up, and for someone like me who can be an herbivore, it certainly was pretty awesome-looking. They had decided to not serve meat tonight. Instead, there was salad and the most beautiful rolls you have ever seen in your whole life.

You would have thought, based on how positively I have described this dish, that I must have absolutely _pigged out_. That couldn't be too much further from the truth.

The whole time we were eating, through all the side conversations going on at all places in the hall, I could tell that there was a large amount of people staring at me. Clearly, the news had travelled fast about my collapse. Not surprising, considering that the airways tended to carry information fast.

Because of this, I couldn't eat too much. I knew that if I didn't eat now, I was going to be extremely hungry in the morning, and yet unable to eat anything due to the test coming up later. However, I tried to eat and I just felt nauseous. I was attracting far too much attention in order to enjoy a roll.

Not a second too soon, the evening meal ended, and we proceeded into the auditorium.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

I had been dreading the evening meeting for the last several hours.

It wasn't like we were "official" yet, but there were people here who could definitely tell that there was something between Lucas and I, that we were more than just friends. I didn't know if Lucas fainting would change this dynamic any more than it already had been changing.

If Lucas gained a lot of attention from this, then the hammer would fall on _me_ for being so closely linked to him. I didn't know what the social consequences would be, but based on my juniority here I could assume that I would probably be shunned along with him. It wouldn't be pretty.

Bill Grey stood up. He was dressed in his usual attire, a gray coat with a red tie. He looked more serious today than he had at any point either today or yesterday, and I had a feeling as to what this was.

"Good evening, students and faculty at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. I am proud to announce that December 14, 201X is now officially in the books. Another day is behind us".

Most of the people in the audience were cheering, but not me. And Lucas, five people away from me, was also keeping silent. He stood out too much, more than he had already.

Would Bill bring it up?

"I first have a very serious announcement to make, and I request that you do not take this news lightly, as it is not good news by any means".

Those of us, meaning the people in the auditorium, who didn't know yet what had happened, all seemed to grow silent. They waited with bated breath, wondering what on Corneria had occurred today in order to make Bill worry about something. Normally, our headmaster seemed pretty happy.

"There was an incident with one of the flight simulators today. It began spinning around like crazy, and the student inside lost consciousness as a result. He is okay, but we are not going to reveal who it is. Some of you may already know, and I wish for this to remain confidential".

 _Confidential my ass!_

If Bill had really cared about keeping the fact that Lucas had collapsed confidential, he wouldn't have announced it for everyone to hear, saying everything except the identity of the student in question. Now, I could see that there was a lot of whispering taking place. It was complete disarray.

I was going to have to find Bill sometime and give him a serious talk about the definition of the word "confidential".

* * *

Later, in my own dormitory on the sixth floor, I tossed and turned, thinking about the other implications of what had happened today. It had to be at least eleven in the evening by now, and I could hear Michelle and the others in my dorm room making the deep, slow breaths that signified they were asleep.

Right now, though, I lay awake. I was too focused on what had caused my semi-boyfriend to end up unconscious on the floor of the flight simulator room.

Did he have something wrong with him medically? Was there some kind of heart condition that he had never told me about? If so, he was going to be in big trouble with me the next time that we talked to each other, which I had no idea when it would be. That was the thing about boarding schools- you never knew when you would get the chance to speak to another person alone.

If Lucas needed some other special medical care, I might not ever see him again. Okay, maybe that was being a _little_ overdramatic of me, but give me a break. _Anyone_ would have been feeling the exact same way if they had just been snatched out of their life back in small-town Maine and shipped off here to attend a futuristic military academy.

On the other hand, if he was perfectly fine (and all signs pointed to that, especially the fact that the simulator had been spinning around and around like a sideways merry-go-round), then why had that happened? Was there some kind of glitch in the programming of the simulator? And if so, would they know about it if they tested him?

I continued dwelling on this as I sank into slumber.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

I woke up the next morning with my stomach aching with hunger. That wasn't the bad part. The bad part was that I knew that I would not be able to satisfy my craving for food until after I underwent a test that would determine whether or not I needed to have a double amputation.

Really puts you in your place, doesn't it?

I had to lie there, watching the sun slowly rise over the Cornerian mountains, until we were allowed to leave the dormitory. Once we had left, I simply followed the route to the dining hall, which was becoming rather familiar to me, and then I simply had to follow the route out of the dining hall to the hospital wing.

I followed the same Swiss crosses into the infirmary. And, when I got there, I was not surprised to see who was there.

Dr. Howler was standing at the entrance, clutching her clipboard in her sharp black claws. "Lucas Enfield...tilt-table test. Yes, you are that person. You were just in here yesterday, so you can come right in".

"Thanks" I said, and I meant it. The sooner I got this over with, the sooner I would know that I didn't really have a problem. Or if I _did_ have a problem, I might be sent home. Back to Earth...

But then I realized that I didn't want to face my parents, not after they had sold me to this training academy on a foreign planet, in an _alternate...fucking...dimension._

 _Plus, I'd rather that I didn't have a potentially life-threatening heart abnormality..._ I thought, feeling slightly crestfallen.

"All right. Do you want me to give you a quick overview of what this test involves before we begin?"

"Yes" I said. I didn't want to do this completely in the dark, although I had a good idea of what would happen.

Dr. Smith, the doctor who had assisted me right after I'd passed out in the flight simulator, rolled a hospital bed into the room. It wasn't too dissimilar to the ones that I'd seen in pictures.

"First, you're going to change into a hospital gown right here".

Dr. Howler gestured to a light blue hospital gown that was lying on the table. Then, she gestured to a nearby bathroom, where I was to change into it.

Once I had done that, glad that Willow and my other friends here weren't present to see me in that thing, Dr. Howler continued on explaining what was going to be done to me.

"You're going to lie on that bed, and you'll be strapped in pretty good. We are going to put an IV in your arm, and tilt the bed between thirty and sixty degrees up and down, in order to see if you have any problems. If you do faint, though, you're not going to fall".

I was relieved to hear the test described to me. It always did help for me, as a person with Asperger's, to know what to expect, since I'm a very routine-oriented person.

"Okay" I said. "I'm going to do this".

* * *

I'm not particularly afraid of needles so much as I used to be afraid of the pain caused by an injection. Over the years, though, it had gotten less bad for me, so I was fine with getting a needle. Once I had been hooked up to the IV, I lay back down on the bed, waiting for the test to start.

They also put some electrodes on my chest in order to easily detect any changes in my heart rate that might occur as a result of being tilted. Luckily, the bed had a footrest, or else I would have been very uncomfortable.

"Are you ready, Lucas?" Dr. Howler asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be".

Dr. Smith adjusted the lever, and the bed tilted to the point where I was standing up with my knees locked. My heart rate and blood pressure had already been measured lying down. I knew that if I passed out during this test, my career of being a pilot would be in jeopardy to be sure.

I stood there for what felt like at least an hour, but was probably only about fifteen minutes or so. I spent a little bit of time talking to Dr. Howler about my classes, but she seemed to be mainly focused with checking my vital signs, which was completely understandable. I just wanted to know, beyond any question, that I would be fine.

After a certain length of time, Dr. Howler said, "You have been standing like this for a while and not yet passed out. I am going to see if there is any problem now, and tell me if you start to feel any worse".

And with that, she injected something into my IV. I don't remember exactly what it was called, but whatever it was caused my heart to begin racing as though I had just run the Swanville 5K, and then climbed Denali, all in one day. It wasn't like I had done those things, either, although that should have been obvious. I was just standing up, not doing anything of note.

I didn't feel too dizzy or anything, either. It felt just like standing up normally was for me. And so I got the feeling that I was going to be ruled as okay.

After what felt like an eternity, it was finally over. I had remained conscious for the whole time, and they had not had to bring out the smelling salts or saline, or anything else starting with S that they might use to revive a person.

Dr. Howler took my IV out and sat me down in a chair nearby the bed that I had just done the test on. She looked straight at me with a kind expression on her face.

"Well, Lucas, there is good news. You do _not_ seem to have any heart problems of note, so there should be no problems with you becoming the skilled pilot that the Cornerian Army so definitely needs in these trying times. I expect nothing but the best of you, Lucas Enfield, and I hope, once again, that I will not be seeing you soon".

I was so relieved that I laughed out loud. With everything else that had been going on for the last three days, at least _one_ good thing had come out of it. My heart was healthy. That meant the world to me.

Unfortunately, Dr. Howler's expression morphed into a much darker one. Not malevolent, but she most definitely did not look like one of Santa's elves as she delivered the next statement.

"It's a well-known fact that your flight simulator yesterday was going rogue, and we have no idea why. However, Falco Lombardi has been studying the problem since you collapsed, and he has made a troubling discovery".

"What's that?" I asked, not sure that I didn't already know, or even wanted to know.

"All the evidence points toward the conclusion that the simulators were tampered with".

* * *

 **Man, I did so much medical research for this chapter, which I finished more than a week ago. Honestly, I didn't mind, considering that I often do medical research just for fun. I could never be a doctor due to my severe OCD, but I still find it interesting.**

 **Also, thank you to Talkingbirdguy, my inspiration for writing, for giving me the white mage phrase.**

 **I'm going to do something different with the questions. This time, YOU guys leave a question through PM that you want me to answer in the next chapter. I'm going to do just that, answering your question. Nothing too personal, like I won't tell you my address or anything. But anything that is within reason is within the limits of the questions.**

 **Happy asking!**


	8. Listening In The Willows

**Enjoy the chapter, and I hope you remember to review!**

 **It was cool to write the Christmas part during the holiday season. Christianity is not my religion, but we still got a tree, and it is kind of nice to write next to it.**

 **I want you guys to take a look at my newest Deviation on DeviantArt. It is simply the best thing ever. Seriously.**

 **Thank you to Cosmicsafe74 for Seventy-Four, the OC introduced in this chapter.**

 **Finally, WAAS is almost at 1,000 views. Yeah!**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

After my test, I was made to stay in the hospital wing until lunch. I might no longer be tethered to the IV, but I still felt like a caged lion. I'd gone here twice in as many days, and I just wanted the whole thing to be over.

After much begging on my part, I managed to persuade Dr. Howler to let me go for lunch. Given that I had not eaten breakfast that day, and only had a very small amount of dinner the previous night, I was extremely hungry. I didn't want to spend the rest of the day in the infirmary, and the food there probably sucked as well.

"You may go for lunch, Lucas. You may also go with your peers to other classes, but you have it _on my orders_ that you will not participate in any of them. Just in case the medicine I gave you causes any problems, I don't want you going crazy during Engineering".

She then looked at me with those Bengal tiger eyes, and yet she looked somewhat motherly as she said this. As much as I resented my own mother at the moment, I just couldn't say no when she made that expression.

"Do you, Lucas Zantry Enfield, solemnly swear that you will not participate in Engineering or anything physical that you may have this afternoon?"

"Yes" I said. Anything to get out of the hospital wing.

"Very well, then" she said, switching to a rather crisper manner. "I'll let you go at lunchtime".

* * *

Dr. Howler was true to her word. I was released from the infirmary and made my way back downstairs, to the dining hall. There, I found my friends in the usual place, and we started having a little more conversation.

"How did the test go, Lucas?" Cole asked.

I snorted. "If I had really tested positive for POTS or something like that, do you _really_ think I'd be having lunch with you right now?"

"So it came back negative?" Mike said.

"That's correct" I said, feeling a grin make its way onto my face. And really, I couldn't help it. It was such a relief to know that I was healthy, and able to eat lunch with everyone else. That in itself meant a lot to me.

The food came up, and it was another delicious-looking meal. Chicken wraps, orange and green, adorned the risen plates. There were also pitchers of water that looked like they had just been collected from one of the crystalline springs high up in the Cornerian mountains. Which, now that I thought about it, they probably were.

Sure enough, everything tasted great, exemplified even more so since I had been so hungry. The entire time, however, I kept glancing over at the door leading to the next class that we would be going to.

According to my schedule, it was Engineering. I would have to go with my classmates to the room, and yet not be able to participate. The very thought of it was terrible. Based on that alone, maybe I should have stayed with Dr. Howler for the rest of the day. It would have been far preferable. However, I also didn't want to draw more attention to myself than I already had.

I was very much dreading my next class, to say the least.

* * *

The Engineering room, which was located far below the dining hall, at least ten levels below, was definitely the least futuristic-looking place in the entire school that I had seen so far.

It looked like a blacksmith's shop from two hundred years ago, or at least what I imagined that would look like. Anvils hung on the walls, which were made of the same pine wood as the floor. An extremely hot oven lay to the side, and the instructor seemed to be busy baking something in it, because his back was turned to us. Clearly, this was one place that time had forgotten.

Except that this was only half the room. The other half looked like a very modern engineering classroom, with a white tiled floor and chalkboard on which various equations were written. Various machines were all over the place, and I could see now why Dr. Howler did not want me operating any of them so soon after such a major test.

Just as I had finished taking this all in, the instructor turned himself around. He seemed to be a large green frog, a little wide in the middle. He wore a beige labcoat and had large round eyes. His name tag read _SLIPPY T._

"Hello, everyone" Slippy said to us. "I was just working on a project of my own here at the kiln. I'm sorry to keep you all waiting, I just lost track of time. I thought lunch ended fifteen minutes from now! But I had to turn off the kiln before I could talk to you safely, do you understand?"

Just about all of the class, including me, nodded.

"I have a note from Dr. Howler today that I think is worth reading to all of you. It says that one of my students, Lucas Enfield to be specific, is not allowed to participate today due to...health reasons".

Slippy didn't _say_ outright what those "health reasons" were, but it was pretty obvious to just about everyone in the room that he was referring to the incident with the flight simulators yesterday. After all, a not insignificant percentage of the students in this class were also in my Flight Simulators group from yesterday.

Once Slippy was done with that, I noticed that _every single student in the room had at least one eye on me._ That was not something that I had been particularly prepared for, nor something that I welcomed now. I liked getting known by _some_ people, but I rarely wanted to be the absolute center of attention. And now, that was what I was.

Eventually, after the class was briefed on more instructions for today's work, and they finally stopped staring at me, they got to work on their various projects. I tried to observe as much as possible, in order to gather what I would need to know in order to be able to work well in the Engineering class that I would have on the coming Wednesday.

For the most part, it looked like there would be a lot of math involved. Which, if you knew me, you would know that I have a genius-level math IQ, and would thus be able to get it easily. Hopefully, this would allow me to catch up with the rest of my class when it came time for me to enter Engineering after missing the first two lessons.

In conclusion, Engineering wasn't too bad. What came _after_ it, however, was far worse.

* * *

My next class after Engineering was Flight Simulators. The same class I had passed out in only twenty-four hours before.

I was expecting to get some stares. I was expecting to be laughed at. I was expecting people to come over to me and say something to the effect of "Lucas! You're alive!"

I got all of those things and more. Cole and Will were not laughing at me. Instead, they stood right behind me, and they seemed to be flanking me like guards stationed right next to the throne of a prince.

To be honest, I kind of liked the change. In this analogy, I was the prince, and everyone else was laughing at me. Okay, maybe the last part of that analogy is not a happy one for me. But it was true, in a way.

I had to sit through Flight Simulators, watching other people go through the motions, including Will and Mike. None of the people who did it today were experiencing any problems with the simulators, which further cemented Dr. Howler's theory.

While it did answer a few questions, it raised even more. For instance, how was the machine sabotaged? Why was it only done for me, and not for anybody else?

These questions held no explanatory power, and would lead to even more. It boggled my mind just how crazy things were becoming. I never thought that my normally predictable small-town Maine life could have turned into this.

Throughout all of this, I sure got a lot of attention. Clearly, I was going to have a title, just like Harry Potter.

 _Lucas Enfield. The Boy Who Swooned._ The thought of it would have made me laugh, if it was not for the fact that this was _me._

* * *

After what felt like an eternity, but was of course just two hours, we went back to our dormitories for Shower Hour. I loved the feeling of the clean water on my skin, feeling it wash off the hospital smell that was so typical of the infirmary here. Even being here for only three days, I had gained an understanding of that.

Once that was over, we proceeded to dinner. During the conversation before the dishes rose up, I decided that I was going to field a few questions from Will, Mike, and Cole, wondering what they had to ask me.

"So...Lucas?" Will asked first.

"Yeah?"

"What did the test involve, exactly? I don't really know how all of this medical stuff works, and I would love to hear the story, if that's okay with you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, Will. It's fine. They basically just strap you into a bed, put an IV in your arm, and tilt the bed so that you pass out, which I thankfully didn't. There is nothing wrong with my heart, just the simulator. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, it does" Will said, digging into the bowl of pasta that he had just made for himself, out of the Italian spread that had appeared before us. I noticed that, despite having such a great lunch, I was still very hungry. As a result of this, I took a big helping of the pasta, to which I added some lettuce and a roll.

As I had expected, it was as delicious as anything else had been here. It might have only been three days, but I knew that I could get used to this. The food, at least. Everything else was still going to be crazy, indeed likely to get crazier by the day.

I didn't want to ruin the deliciousness of the meal, but I knew that it was worth telling these people what Dr. Howler had told me. They had a right to know. They were my friends, after all, and this was something that they needed to and deserved to be aware of. Because, really, who knew? It might end up happening to them.

"Hey, guys", I said, "there's something that I need to tell you. Something important".

Mike, Will, and Cole were still too focused on their food, and I decided that the only way that I would get their attention would be if I said it out loud immediately, without warning.

"Dr. Howler, the one who performed the tilt-table test, thinks that someone deliberately tampered with the flight simulator, in order to make sure something happened. All signs from my test point towards that conclusion, she says".

Cole spat out a long length of spaghetti. "Say _what_?"

Will's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, and I could tell that I had him now. This might have been the only way to get them to listen to me, but that didn't change the fact that I wished I didn't have to ruin dinner for them.

"That's right, and I wish it weren't the case".

"Maybe you shouldn't have been so surprised, Lucas" Mike said. "These things do happen, you know".

"If something was wrong with the simulator, Mike, don't you think that it would either have had to be fixed or else it would have happened again? Are you _blind_?" Cole all but shouted, but not quite loudly enough for the others in the hall to hear.

"I don't know" Mike said. "You just shouldn't be too surprised by these things. The machines go wrong all the time".

I didn't think anything was weird about what he was saying at the moment, but I would eventually.

* * *

Hours later, long after the stars had turned in the sky outside my window, I lay awake in bed, even after everyone else had gone to sleep.

Could it be Mike who had somehow been involved with the tampering? I mean, he couldn't be older than fifteen or sixteen, about the same age as the rest of us. What would have possessed him to do that? _How_ would he have done that? And what basis did I have for even thinking that?

The fact was, he had been so dismissive of Dr. Howler's theory. And both of my other friends seemed to agree with her on that. So why didn't Mike?

It seemed so simple. Mike was the culprit, or at least affiliated with him or her. That was the explanation that worked the best, at least from my standpoint.

The thing was, I didn't know if it would be wise to confront him on it, or even imply that I suspected him, right yet. I needed to wait for the right moment.

 _When would it come?_

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

I had never wanted to go to the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. I wanted to go to high school, keep up a good GPA, and maybe even become more than just friends with Lucas. I could have been more fortunate than I was right now.

Still, I always held out hope that there would be some day, some time, fairly soon, that I would get to meet with Lucas. We could have some alone time together, sit below the stars, and celebrate life and the fact that we had each other.

Unfortunately, it had not yet happened. And with every day that went by that I didn't get an opportunity like that, the less likely it seemed to happen.

My meeting with Lucas would have to wait, because time would not.

We continued to go through the days, which eventually turned into weeks. One day, I looked at the calendar and noticed that it was Christmas Eve. December 24 had rolled around, and, believe it or not, the holidays were observed here.

The previous week, trees had been put up in the dining hall, eight large pines chopped from the Cornerian wilderness. They were adorned with all kinds of ornaments, and it was definitely turning out to be one of the biggest Christmas celebrations, if not _the_ biggest, that I had ever witnessed, let alone been a part of.

It is said that, during the Christmas season, more things are possible. I don't know if that is true or not, but the opportunity that I was anxiously awaiting finally arrived on that snowy afternoon.

* * *

The sun was already sinking behind the mountains, even though it was only 2:30 in the afternoon. It was definitely a beautiful sight to behold, and I was just glad that I had survived the last two flight simulations that I had been a part of.

Lucas had also been in two more flight simulations, and there had been no problems. I wished that I could have had a discussion with him, but that day came.

I saw him signing a sheet. He had written LUCAS ZANTRY ENFIELD on a slot for a "field trip" that the cadets would be allowed to go on.

"What is that?" I asked.

He turned around, and, noticing that it was me, smiled at me. "It's a trip up to the mountains. Apparently, intelligence is clarifying that there might be some kind of bomb in there. We don't want it going off and setting off an avalanche. Someone needs to go in to disarm it".

"Yeah, but why you? Why not someone else?"

"There _are_ other people on the trip, Willow Foster. There will be twenty cadets there, including me. Cole has already signed up for the trip. Anything to stop the Anglar forces".

"But you're too new here to even _think_ of such a thing, Lucas Enfield!" I all but yelled at him. I almost immediately regretted it. I didn't want to get in a shouting match with my boyfriend.

That made me think. What if he had stopped loving me over the last ten days during which we had not talked to each other very much at all?

"It's fine, Willow. Fox McCloud was only 18 when he saved the Lylat System from Andross. I'm going to help them, I want the experience. If I'm going to be a pilot someday, like Dr. Howler said-"

"Wait... _Dr._ Howler?" I asked. "When did you see a doctor?"

"Remember that day that I was absent from the morning classes? The day after I passed out in Flight Simulators?"

"Yes" I said, telling the truth.

"Well, I had to have a tilt-table test done on me, just to make sure that there was nothing wrong with my heart. It came back negative, so I do not need to have my legs amputated".

"Wait... _amputated_?"

"That's right, Willow. I might have needed a double amputation, but thankfully I don't, because my heart has no problem pumping blood to my brain normally. It was just because of the spinning of the simulator, which might have been sabotaged".

"I can't believe you kept this from me" I said.

Lucas didn't seem to want this to turn into a breakup fight. "When would I have told you? This is the first time we've been alone together for a week and a half".

It was true. I just couldn't believe that someone might have deliberately tried to seriously hurt or even kill Lucas by tampering with the flight simulator.

I looked in his eyes, something Lucas was sometimes not so great at doing, and I knew he was telling the truth. Sometimes, however, the truth was the very last thing that you _wanted_ to believe.

* * *

At dinner the next day, which was Christmas, we didn't get any presents, nor had we gotten any that morning. It seemed that our parents had completely abandoned us by signing us away to this school. Which was fine with me, because I no longer wanted anything to do with them either.

Bill Grey made a speech before the feast of turkey, green beans, and mashed potatoes.

"I would like to congratulate everyone here for having made it through another year. As you all know, there is a trip that is on January 11 to the mountains, during which we will be defusing a bomb that our intelligence tells us has been planted in the mountains. We ourselves have little to worry about due to our protective shield, but we have an obligation to our fellow citizens of Corneria, as well as ourselves, to stop the inevitable avalanche that the bomb will cause. We suspect this is a plan being carried out by the Anglars.

"The twenty students on this trip, you know who you are, will report here at 9 AM, after breakfast, in order to travel by chopper to the glaciers on top of the mountains. Special safety precautions will be discussed for the next two weeks until this trip occurs".

I knew that Lucas's name was on that list. He had told me yesterday that he was going. I was surprised that they would let him, as well as Cole (who was similarly inexperienced), go on such a treacherous trip. I guessed that the Cornerian army was just looking for someone, and the more senior members just wouldn't cut it.

Based on all of this, it was a little difficult to enjoy the turkey and mashed potatoes, which were normally some of my favorite foods. What if, despite every safety precaution they took, Lucas might not return? Defusing a bomb buried under tons of snow and ice definitely sounded like something that was not risk-free by any means.

And yet, that was how things seemed to be going for me lately.

* * *

New Year's passed. And with that, 201X bled into 201Y just like that, and I had now been at this school for more than half a month. The days might be bleeding into each other, but I still got no closer to the end of what seemed like it might be an infinite set.

Starting on December 28, we had gone back to our normal classes, aside from the group that was going on the mountain trip. They did some more specialized training, and it seemed to be very difficult from the way I saw Nena, who was a member of that group, pant as she returned to the dining hall, and how much her appetite seemed to have increased since the trip had been announced.

One day, a few days into the new year, I returned from Flight Simulators, feeling as though I was finally starting to get the hang of it. I wasn't as skilled at video games as Lucas was, but I had managed to get in and get it done at last. I'd made it through the Sector Y level, the easiest difficulty that they let you do, without dying for a change.

Of course, Lucas had not reentered the simulation, or maybe he had. I didn't know what was going on in those specialized classes.

However, on this day, something happened that was unexpected.

We were all at dinner when Bill Grey announced, "I am pleased to say that we have a new student at this school".

* * *

The new student definitely did not look like a human. How could he, with the fact that his entire face was obscured by a massive gas mask with crimson eye holes? Not only that, but this new student's gas mask had a skull on it. He wore black boots and a black trenchcoat and trousers.

Tesla coils were going all over his backpack, looking like they were six feet tall. He himself was not unusually tall, at five feet, ten inches. Lucas was taller than that.

"Do you wish to introduce yourself, young man?" Katt asked. The purple feline was present for this ceremony, of showing the new student to his place.

The new guy shook his head.

"All right, then" Bill said. "This is Seventy-Four, and he seems to be very shy. He wouldn't show us his face, so there is that".

I looked at Seventy-Four. I guessed that he was about fifteen or sixteen, the same age as us, but that didn't explain the fact that he appeared so small even though he was average to above average in height-for-age. Certainly, he looked like a future pilot.

If the flight simulator had indeed been tampered with, it made sense that it might be someone like him. However, that made no sense at all. How could it have been the new guy, when he had only just come here more than two weeks after Lucas's collapse?

* * *

Not for the first time, I lay awake that night. There were just too many things that I was mulling over in my head for me to have any chance at getting a ticket to Dream Land anytime soon. Most of these concerned the new student, Seventy-Four. I just couldn't make myself believe that there was nothing fishy about him.

 _What if I snuck out at night? It's past midnight. The other girls are all asleep. No one will catch you if you try to do it._

I almost gasped. That thought had _never_ come into my head before. But now it did, like someone had opened up my skull and put it there. Now, I knew that this was what I wanted to do.

I sat up in bed and swung my legs over the edge as quietly as possible. I didn't want to wake the others in my dorm room, so I tiptoed to the door and tried to open it making as little noise as I could.

It did work, and I sensed that none of the other girls had been awoken by it. This meant I was in the clear, although I still questioned why I had even decided to do this in the first place.

 _Maybe if I just go out here tonight, I'll meet up with Lucas._

That was just wishful thinking, and I knew it. Lucas would be sleeping in his bed like a good boy, and I was sneaking out of my dormitory in the middle of the night.

Right now, there was a very large difference between me and my boyfriend.

* * *

I went down the purple hallway and descended the spiral staircase that went past the statue of Falco Lombardi and Katt Monroe. It was only a few turns until I ended up in a more-used hallway by the male form.

In my pajamas, I made less noise, so I used that to my advantage to sneak through the various corridors of the school. Down another staircase, and through tunnels of green, and I reached a hallway that ended in the staff room. And, to my great surprise, I heard voices from behind that door.

"...simulator may have been tampered with" a voice said.

I realized that this voice belonged to Dr. Howler, the medical technician at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. I had only heard her voice once or twice, but the voice of an anthropomorphic Bengal tiger was not something that you forgot easily.

"If it really does happen this easily, I might end up seeing a lot more cases like Lucas's" Dr. Howler continued.

"Indeed, I fear for the safety of everyone in this school" said another voice. That was Mrs. Hooter, the archery instructor. "I feel that there is a possibility that we may have a traitor in our midst".

"I mean, there is no way that anything like this could be an accident" replied Dr. Howler. "I _tested_ Lucas on the table. Everything came back negative, even when I injected the drug into his IV. His heart is perfectly normal, so the simulator must have been _ab_ normal".

The next voice was that of Falco Lombardi. "It's already pretty much been established that there _was_ a problem with the simulator. I saw it go around and around like a washing machine on the spin cycle. Lucas would have hard a hard time staying conscious through that".

"Indeed" said Mrs. Hooter. "So do you think that there might be a traitor here? Who pretends to be helping us with our war effort, but is really helping the Anglars?"

Falco laughed, but it wasn't a happy one.

"I think that is likely, maybe seventy to eighty percent. The easiest explanation, for me, is that there is someone here who is going to go out of his way to try and harm Lucas. It's especially curious that nobody else has been affected by this glitch, and it has not affected Lucas on any subsequent times in the flight simulator. Could it have been a one-time thing, though?"

"I doubt it" Mrs. Hooter said.

Normally, I would have said that Mrs. Hooter was being her typical paranoid self. However, this time I happened to agree with her.

"What beef does this person have with Lucas? He's just a kid!" Dr. Howler cried.

"Easy, Dr. Howler" said Falco. "We don't know who this traitor is, and we don't want to point fingers unnecessarily. I might be a _literal_ hawk, but I'm not a _figurative_ one. I'm not just going to accuse people without reason to suspect them".

"That's right" Dr. Howler said, seeming to calm down. "I'm the doctor at this academy, and it is my job to make sure that the students stay safe. It doesn't really matter who the traitor is, as long as we make sure that Lucas Enfield is not endangered further".

I was still standing outside of the staff room, listening to all of this conversation, when the next words shocked me.

"I think that there might be someone outside of this room" Falco said.

"Me too" Mrs. Hooter said. I could sense her looking towards the door. She might have even been pointing a crossbow at it, and by extension at _me._


	9. Preparations

**Singlewave asks: Do you like cats or dogs better?**

 **SnowLucario answers: We have a dog, but my mother is allergic to cats, so that is out of the question. For me, whichever is less work, as I don't like animals. They seem to not like me, so I feel justified for that.**

 **I'm sick right now, so I may not be able to write as much. Being sick over Christmas is gonna suck.**

 **This is another one of those transition chapters, so it is more short and dull. But don't worry! The next one will be EPIC.**

 **Much of the content in this chapter comes from my own experiences rock climbing. This is how it works at the places I've been, whether it be at summer camp or at actual rock climbing gyms. When I was in fifth grade, I even took a few outdoor climbing lessons. But that's enough about me.**

 **Enjoy the chapter and please don't forget to review!**

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

I continued to stand stock-still in the hallway, not daring to breathe too loudly. Deep down, I knew that there was no point in doing so. As soon as Falco had announced that he suspected that there was a student behind the door, all hope was lost. I could have tried to run, but I would get caught in the end. They would know it was me, and then it would be game over.

The door opened, and it turned out that I had been right as to who was behind the door.

Dr. Howler, Falco Lombardi, and Mrs. Hooter all looked absolutely livid. It looked like they couldn't believe that I had snuck out at night. The second I saw their facial expressions, I knew that I was in trouble.

There was no way that I was getting out of this one. And what was worse, _I_ was the one who had gotten myself into this mess in the first place. I had just stupidly decided to leave my bed in the middle of the night, and that ended up getting me caught by the teachers. What kind of idiot _was_ I?

" _Willow Foster!"_ Dr. Howler screamed. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"I-" I started to say, but then Falco cut me off.

"It's more than three hours after your curfew, and here you are down outside of the staff room. What were you thinking?"

I didn't know how to answer that. The truth was, I hadn't really been thinking.

"It's time to go down to the secretary's office" Mrs. Hooter said. Luckily, she didn't have her bow on hand, so she wasn't pointing it at me. That would have made the situation far worse for me than it already was.

"That's right" Falco said. "If I know Katt, she will _not_ be happy about being woken up at one in the morning".

* * *

I was led down several hallways, until I realized that we were going down the same direction as Katt's room had been. That had been where Lucas was examined right after he had arrived here.

Katt could hardly have lived in the secretary's office. Therefore, it did not surprise me that Dr. Howler opened a door leading into a magenta room, the same color of Katt's fur. On the bed across the room, Katt Monroe was sleeping. Her magenta fur blended in well with the color of her bedsheets and the walls.

Falco tapped her on the shoulder, which woke her up quickly. Clearly, she was a light sleeper.

"Oh, man, Falco. What is it this time? Did someone sneak out at night?"

"As a matter of fact, Katt, yes. Willow Foster has been brought here so that you can pass judgment as you see fit".

Katt growled. "I'm not really in the mood. This is the wrong time to have to do this. I don't sleep well at the best of times, which these don't seem to be. First, there's the Anglars, then Lucas passing out, then _this_!"

Katt sat up and got out of bed. Then, she led by by hand to a seat in front of her desk. I knew, right now, that I was in such deep trouble that I might as well be packing my bags right now had I had access to them.

* * *

As soon as I was sitting in front of Katt, she looked slightly less angry, just disappointed, which was worse.

"Please explain what you were doing out of bed so late. It's one in the morning, so unless you have a _really_ good excuse, you're going to have to be punished".

I didn't see the point in lying to her. "I just felt like so many things were out of my control, and I wanted to do one thing on my own. Plus, I couldn't sleep".

Katt nodded. "Was there anything in particular that you wanted to do?"

"No" I said quickly, not caring what the real truth was, even though I did know it.

Suddenly, Katt's indigo eyes pierced mine, and I knew that she was not satisfied with that answer. Maybe she could sense somewhere that I was lying about that. I wasn't quite sure, but I decided to play it safe. I was in enough trouble as it was.

"Yes" I corrected myself.

"I suspected as such. Now, what was it that you wanted to do?"

I didn't even consider lying once again. "I was hoping that I could see my friend out here. Lucas Enfield".

Katt nodded, looking stone-faced.

"There are consequences to your actions, young lady. You are going to have to serve a detention on the evening of January eighth, three days from now, since it's after midnight".

A detention. I didn't get too many in high school, and I didn't want to start now. Unfortunately, I had no choice now. I would need to pay the consequences for my actions, just like Katt said.

"What does this detention entail, exactly?"

"I'm glad you asked" Katt said. "You will report to the Engineering room right after evening meeting on the eighth, when you will have to clean the room under the watchful eye of Slippy Toad. You got that?"

"Yes" I said.

And the awkward part was, because I had disturbed Katt's rest, she was even angrier at me. She made Mrs. Hooter lead me back to my dorm room, which was even more awkward. I didn't say a word the whole time, because I was afraid of how she would reply. If she was even half as threatening _now_ as she was with a bow in her arm, I knew that I didn't want to get on her bad side.

Once we got back to my dormitory, Mrs. Hooter turned on the light, which woke the other five girls up. They all yawned, and yet they all woke up in unison.

"Why are the lights on?" Allison asked somewhat angrily.

"It's because Willow Foster here has something to say to you" Mrs. Hooter replied angrily.

I had never been so nervous to say anything in my life, not even when I was part of a play back in elementary school.

"I'm sorry that I snuck out of bed in the middle of the night". I then turned to Mrs. Hooter. "Are you happy?"

The archery instructor nodded before closing the door.

She might have been satisfied. But the other girls in my dormitory most certainly were not.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

The next morning at breakfast, I got the sense that the other girls at Willow's table, from what I could see of it, were really mad at her for some reason. Was she some kind of scapegoat? I couldn't imagine why, and I didn't know that I wanted to know.

All I could see was, the other girls seemed to really have it in for her.

In addition, there was Seventy-Four, the new guy who had arrived yesterday. Ever since then, he had not spoken a single word in front of me or any of my friends. This kid really was shy. Nobody could get a word out of him.

After we were done with our pancakes, and had cleaned up our dorm room the way we did every day, Cole and I followed the other eighteen cadets into the nearby hallway. I knew that today was going to be a big day in terms of training, because we only had six more until we went on our mission, to defuse a bomb that was planted underneath a glacier in the Cornerian mountains.

I knew I might not get back from that trip alive. But I wanted to feel like I was doing _something_ for the war effort, so I had signed up.

Once we were in the hallway, the leader of this group, an anthropomorphic chameleon, came in the room and began counting off our names.

"Abigail Ashland?"

"Here".

"Cecil Bentley?"

"Here".

"Frederick Chester?"

"Here".

"Lucas Enfield?"

"Here" I said.

A few names later, the chameleon (whose name was Leon Powalski), called out "Cole McCallen?" and he answered that he was there.

"Okay" Leon said, once he had gone through his whole list of names. "The first thing we are going to do today is to get your tattoos. In case you get seriously hurt or something, and need a blood transfusion, it really helps expedite the process if we know which type to give you. So, are you guys ready to get tattoos?"

"Yes!" some of the other students cheered.

"Follow me, then" Leon replied.

* * *

I had never gotten a tattoo in my life. It had never struck me as a very fun thing to do, and I didn't see the point of changing the way my body looked for no reason.

Now, though, we all went to the tattoo parlor that was in the basement of this school, which sure seemed to have a lot of sublevels, for this very purpose.

Previously, each of us had had our blood tested to see what type we had. I had read in health class that if you had type AB+, you could receive any blood type but only donate to people with the same blood type. If you had O-, it was the opposite.

According to my test, my blood type was O+, so that was what was tattooed onto my right wrist. The letter was about three inches long and took perhaps thirty minutes to do. After that, we were all allowed to leave for the next activity we were training for, which was where we would learn about the equipment we would be using on the glacier.

I was very much looking forward to it, but Cole seemed to be a little apprehensive about it.

"It'll be fine" I said, hoping I was right.

* * *

The equipment lessons were being held in one of the gyms in the basement. It was _much_ larger than the one at Swanville High, let me tell you. It was the size of two football fields, and at least forty feet tall. All sorts of things, such as hockey sticks, basketballs, helmets, and other sports equipment were clustered in one corner of the room. There were two basketball hoops on opposite sides of the long end, but that was not the most notable feature of the room, if it could be called a "room".

Most of the walls were adorned with climbing walls, the type with burnt orange and artificial handholds in all colors. Harnesses were hung on the rope leading up the nearest face, and I realized what we were going to do today.

I was kind of afraid of heights, but there was a very big difference between _my_ fear of heights and that of some other people. My father, as much as I cursed him, was afraid of heights. However, his fear was more related to things like sitting in the top box of a sporting event, or riding a chairlift.

My own fear of heights activated whenever I had to do something that required me to wear a harness. Some people would be less scared doing this knowing that they had some protection from falling, but not me. Don't ask me why.

"Well, guys" Leon said. "Do you have any idea what we are going to do today?"

A lot of the people nodded, including myself. I noticed that Cole wasn't nodding, though. Maybe he had never gone rock climbing before. Given how he'd grown up poor in Detroit, it wouldn't surprise me if he had never had that opportunity.

"We're going to practice with our equipment, including putting on and taking off our harnesses. We'll also work on our rock climbing skills. During the actual mission, you're going to be clipped into a rope going up the glacier, so that if you fall into a crevasse we can haul you up. But it helps to get a feel for all of this equipment".

Leon passed out the climbing harnesses. Being that I had been rock climbing before, I didn't need too much help putting it on, but I had never really managed to completely get the hang of tightening it.

It was a real struggle for Cole, though. He seemed not to know where to begin, but I pointed out that you needed to put your legs in the holes near the bottom. Once he had done that, it was very easy to figure out what to do.

Soon, all twenty of us had harnesses around our waists. Leon nodded approvingly. It became obvious to everyone that those who did not know how to put on their harnesses had all been helped by those who did. He praised us for our teamwork, saying that it was essential. Which I agreed with; if we didn't learn to act as a unit, we would inevitably fail. It was just a matter of time.

"All right" Leon said. "Now that you're all harnessed up, it's time for you to learn the ropes in rock climbing. On the actual ice, there won't be too much climbing to do, but you will have to deal with the slipperiness.

"Who wants to go first?"

To my surprise, not too many people raised their hands. I figured that they would have, but that did nothing to increase my confidence in our team.

I, on the other hand, was one of only five people to do so. Leon picked Abigail Ashland, who had shown even more prowess than me, but said that I could go next. I was looking forward to it, get some adrenaline pumping.

Leon said that, for the first few people to climb, he would be the one doing the belaying, but after that we would have to learn how to do it ourselves. I was fine with that, but as I have said before, not everyone else in the room seemed to be.

Abigail managed to make it fifteen feet up in twenty seconds flat. She didn't have too much trouble pushing herself up the wall, like some kind of animal. Forget the stereotype of girls not having upper-body strength!

Forty feet up, there was a golden-colored gong that you had to touch in order to be considered to have made it all the way up the wall. Abigail reached it in less than a minute.

She banged the gong, signaling that she had done it. After instructing us all to clap, Leon allowed her to rappel to the ground, which she did promptly. Then, she was unclipped from the rope.

Leon told me to go over and hold still as he hooked me into the rope. Then, I walked over to the wall.

I used the command that Leon had instructed us on. "On belay?"

"Belay is on" Leon said in his usual curt tone.

"Climbing?"

"Climb away!"

So I did. I got onto that wall and methodically made my way up the lower half of the wall, trying to gauge which handholds would be easiest for my feet.

It was hard work. Soon, my hands were drenched in sweat. But still, I was getting this _done._ I wasn't as fast as Abigail, but I steadily made my way up to the gong, which I banged loudly.

In fact, I banged it so loudly that I had to cover my ears. This had the added effect of me not being able to use my hands to hold on, which had the added effect of me taking a tumble backwards.

Luckily, I was wearing a climbing harness, so I only had ann instant of free-fall before Leon caught me. Normally, I'm very fast at rappelling, but he just lowered me to the ground.

When I got there and looked in his face, I could tell he wasn't happy with me.

* * *

They went through the other three people who had raised their hands, as well as an additional three who had not, but raised their hands afterwards.

Once that was done, Leon instructed us to take our harnesses off and hang them back up. Then, he addressed the class.

"Overall, that was a good job. Those of you who did not have a chance to attempt the wall today will be able to either tomorrow or the day after. Rest assured, _all_ of you will have done it twice by the time we head up to the glacier. You need all the practice that you can get".

With that, he dismissed us, as it was getting close to lunchtime, and a morning of tattoos and rock climbing had left us hungry. We followed the route back to the dining hall that Leon had taught us, and then I sat back down with my other friends.

* * *

Later that day, as I was going to head back to room 37405 for shower hour, I saw a familiar girl with golden-brown hair and ocean blue eyes. Willow.

"Hey, Willow, how's it going?" I asked, which might not have been the best pickup line.

She turned around to look at me. "Oh, it's just _dandy_ knowing that you're going to risk your life with a lot of other students!"

I could feel my face turn pink. "I'm not going to be risking _anything._ Leon is going to keep us all safe!"

"There's always that **small** chance you might not make it back. Things are bad enough as it is, what with me having detention on the eighth-"

"Wait, _what?"_ I asked.

"Got caught sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night" she said sheepishly, trying not to let more tears fall by the looks of it.

"Oh" I said. "Sorry about that".

"It's fine" Willow said. "Go. Take your shower. I'll do the same".

We shook hands before leaving.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

Over the next few days, Lucas had more classes apart from the rest of us. I wasn't sure what he was doing there, and the uncertainty bothered me. Not that I wasn't used to uncertainty by now.

To make matters worse, I had two bad events in my timeline. One was in my future, one was in my past.

There was the fight with Lucas on the afternoon of January 5, 201Y. Luckily, we seemed to have patched things up between us by now. The other thing I had not resolved, and that was my detention with Slippy.

I found myself on the evening of the eighth, right after the school meeting, going down to the Engineering room, where my detention was to take place. When the voice of Slippy Toad told me to enter, I did so.

"Good evening, Willow. I would first like to remind you that you have done something very wrong, and for that you deserve to be punished. Do you understand that?"

"Yes" I replied.

"Good" replied Slippy. "Now, I want you to clean everything in the Engineering room. I want there to be not a _single_ crumb of anything on the floor or any of the machines".

I nodded, and then set myself to work doing just that. It wasn't easy, but I tried to remind myself that what Lucas was about to do was much harder.

* * *

 **I know that it is very short, but like I said, it is a transition chapter. The next chapter is EPIC. It's so long, and it's been done for a week. And it will be released on December 27. I hope you are looking forward to it.**

 **Please remember to review, as I want to know how I am doing with providing you with a good story.**

 **Sincerely, SnowLucario.**


	10. Defuse Or Lose

**Zaravan asks: What got you into the Star Fox fandom?  
**

 **SnowLucario answers: I think it was a combination of a couple of factors. First off, Fox McCloud is so badass, and I had played Star Fox 64 quite a bit. Plus, I had this awesome idea for a story in my head, and I was getting sick of writing SYOTs. I wanted something different. I hope that answered your question.**

 **I got a new computer for Christmas, and two Survivor buffs (Tadhana and Angkor). I have a picture on DeviantArt of them hanging off the side of my bed, so go check that out if you have not already.**

 **Welcome to the longest chapter yet of Wing And A Scare, at 9,371 words. My second longest chapter ever, after the final chapter of Labyrinth, which is 10,115 words. Hopefully, that receding bar on the right-hand side of your screen helps to illustrate that. As to the word count, I'm just proud that it's OVER 9,000!**

 **I know, I had to do that, and the thing is that I'm not even that big into Pokemon. I was never one of those kids who collected cards and went around looking to battle random people on the streets of the SnowLucario neighborhood. I always though Pokemon was dorky, which is ironic considering my username now.**

 **I was a little nervous to post this chapter, because I think it's so great, and yet there will probably be very polarizing opinions on various things within it. It's going to make you laugh, cry, and shiver. Literally. It's like an awesome scene from an action movie.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Over the course of the last five days before the mission to the Cornerian glaciers, we trained _hard._ I often went to bed feeling like I had done several hours of hard labor, but it was worth it. The knowledge that I might be able to save thousands of people from an avalanche was what kept me going.

Every day, groups of us tackled the rock wall. We practiced using crampons and pickaxes. We had to pick up as much as possible, and I was hoping that Leon wouldn't end up regretting his decision to allow cadets to take part in such an important mission. Why not choose actual military personnel?

Of course, Fox McCloud (who was rumored to be coming to the school just to take part and help us in our task) had defeated Andross in the first Lylat War at the age of eighteen. But they were expecting kids as young as _sixteen_ to take on this challenge. I guessed that they just wanted to take this radical next step.

We were even briefed on what to do in case of an avalanche. We didn't use air bags, so we were told to try to step as lightly as possible to avoid triggering one. If one managed to start despite our best efforts, we were instructed simply to "ditch our harnesses and run".

All in all, I was feeling no small degree of nervousness about this mission. However, I tried to downplay it to others as much as possible. I didn't want them worrying about _me._ This worked just fine until the afternoon before the mission.

* * *

I was walking in the dining hall, about an hour before dinner. I was supposed to be going back to my dorm room for shower hour, but I knew that a walk might help to calm my nerves. Besides, the "no students outside their dorms" rule was only really _enforced_ at night.

By now, every last vestige of the holiday season was gone from the dining hall, so there was nothing around to prevent me from seeing anyone who might come to pass.

And who might that be but Willow Foster, my sort-of girlfriend?

She was looking as beautiful as always, today wearing an aquamarine dress that really brought out the color in her eyes. It also really went well with the color of the ice of the glacier when looked at from a certain angle. The glacier I'd be climbing up tomorrow.

"Good afternoon, Lucas" she said.

We'd made up since our previous fight, and were on good terms once again. Although we didn't talk as much as we could have back in Swanville, we tended to patch up our arguments quickly, which tended to bode well. I have heard of a lot of people who were married for years and then got divorced, who had had arguments _before_ they got married.

I didn't know if I could see a future with Willow just yet. I knew, however, that one way or another I was going on this trip.

"So...are you still going to the glaciers, Lucas?" she asked me.

I'd been ready for that question. "I am, Willow. As much as you might not want me to, I really want to help save those people. And I want to play a role. I'm sure that you can relate to that, sometimes?"

"I definitely have been able to relate to that before. But, still, Lucas. _You don't have to do this._ You might get hypothermia, or die in an avalanche...".

I snorted. " _Really?_ Willow, we're used to New England winters. If I can handle sixteen of those, then I can handle this".

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am" I said, desperately hoping that was the truth.

I then noticed that Willow was looking very bothered by something. "What is the problem, Willow? You sound...upset".

"It's just that you're going on this death trip-".

"For the last time, I'm _not_ gonna die".

"-and my detention with Slippy was _terrible._ I had to wash all of the things in the Engineering room for a solid three hours. Beyond that, I spent the whole time, as I still am now, absolutely worried sick about you. Can you even _imagine_ that?"

I couldn't. And that was the scary thing. It was hard for me to empathize with people, sometimes. And I didn't use the excuse of having Asperger's, either. I was genuinely not a very empathetic person by nature, and caring about someone who didn't directly concern me was, quite frankly, none of my business.

"That sounds like it really sucks" I said, which was really the thing I _could_ say that was closest to the truth. Or, at least, what I truly believed to be true.

* * *

The next morning, as I helped Seventy-Four, Cole, and the others clean up the dorm room, I was still thinking about how the mission was going to turn out. Hopefully, it was a success, and none of us would die or get seriously hurt. Hopefully.

I couldn't shake the feeling, however, that something bad was going to happen. There was a certain tension present in the room the whole time we were working on cleaning it, and I knew that the most likely cause of this tension was the fact that Cole and I were going on this trip despite only having been here for about four weeks.

"Good luck" Will said. "You're going to need it".

I nodded. I knew that I needed to get lucky in order to survive this trip. But I also felt that I had it in me.

After we were done with cleaning, we were supposed to report to the dining hall in order to get ready to board the chopper. Cole and I were there, as well as the other eighteen students going on the trip. We were all fairly nervous, I could tell.

* * *

We were led down a serious of corridors, ranging in colors from mustard yellow to crimson red to indigo, and then some butterscotch orange, seafoam blue, and jungle green. It was all beautiful, but I didn't know where it would all lead, or if it would ever even end.

Finally, though, we ended up in a single, large room with metal walls. I could tell that this was a hangar of some sort for various planes. Arwings, the personal aircraft that the Star Fox team used, were clustered at one edge of the room as though they were having a conference. There were also some small helicopters, but the real show lay outside, Leon said.

"I think you will find the view very awe-inspiring" he said.

He pressed a button on a remote that must have been in his pocket the entire time, and the door to a runway opened like one that you might find in a suburban garage.

Except that the runway was much bigger than a suburban driveway. As soon as we were outside of the hangar, we caught a full view of it.

It did not look like a suburban driveway.

* * *

The runway went out past the protective bubble, meaning that we were greeted with a fresh blast of cold winter air. Luckily, Leon had come prepared, as he handed each of us purple-and-turquoise winter coats, or whatever color our rank dictated. One girl I noticed, Abigail, was wearing gold and magenta, meaning that she was at the second highest level there was. I wondered how long she had been there, and thus how long it might take _me_ to reach that rank.

"All right" Leon said. "You're really going to need these, because as cold as it is here, it's going to be much worse on the actual glacier, so be prepared for that. And, also, you might want to appreciate the view on the way up".

From what I could see, it was most certainly spectacular. There was a view of the plains and the mountains, lightly dusted with snow, from the hangar. I could only imagine what it must have looked like when we were actually up in the sky.

"Personally, I prefer the air" came a voice from behind us.

Falco Lombardi strode over to us. He seemed to have come out of nowhere, except not actually having _teleported._

We all thought Leon had had no idea. As it turned out, though...

"Falco is coming on this mission. It was planned from the very beginning" Leon said. "And we have another person who will help us. Indeed, he is already in the helicopter".

"Who will it be?" an orange-and-teal girl asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see" Falco said, smiling.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

Aside from the helicopter ride to the flight academy, I had never flown in a plane before. This was mainly because I had grown up poor, and neither my birth parents nor my adoptive parents had had the money to fly anywhere.

I had never had the feeling of the plane lifting off beneath you, and looking out the window to see the suburbs of Detroit start to look like toys. And yet, soon the Grey Clouds Flight Academy (an extremely imposing piece of architecture, mind you) was no larger than something a kid built out of LEGOs.

Soon, though, we were past that, and I was in awe of what I noticed outside the window.

Plains far below us were covered in a light dusting of snow. Lakes and ponds dotted the landscape, spots of every shade of blue from steel blue to navy. The plains itself ranged from green to white, and I could see large hills and mountains in the distance. On the ground, the valleys looked far better and more spectacular than Yoshi Valley from Mario Kart 64.

For someone from the concrete jungle of Detroit, this was something new. I had almost forgotten the sight from four weeks before, but this definitely helped put it back in my head.

The special guest on this trip, by the way, turned out to be Fox McCloud. He turned up from the engine room of the chopper just a minute or two after we took off.

"How much longer until we reach the glacier?" Lucas asked him.

Fox looked over his shoulder at the approaching mountain. "It's only a half-hour trip, and we've already been in the air for at least fifteen minutes. So, maybe fifteen minutes until we reach the glacier".

Lucas nodded.

I then went to the window and looked at more of the scenery. We were now so high that I could see the ocean in the distance, and the snowfields on the mountain looked like icing on a cake. A cake the size and shape of a major mountain, but still a delicious chocolate cake with white frosting, something I would have killed for right now. I knew now that we were getting close.

The glacier was riddled with several crevasses, but it was attached to the side of the mountain pretty well. It was a steep upward slope of perhaps thirty degrees, and it glistened with ice. It was a good thing that there was a long, thick rope attached to the side of the glacier, which was covered in feet of snow in some places and yet completely icy in others.

In other words, it was both beautiful and terrible at the same time.

* * *

When we reached the place that Leon seemed to have been thinking of, he let us off the helicopter.

Once again, he showed us the equipment that we would be using. He made sure that we all put on our harnesses and clipped into the rope, so that we wouldn't fall too far down the side of the glacier. If we did fall down, the rope would arrest our fall, and we could then climb back up.

I had always been scared of heights, and Lucas was correct in assessing that I had most likely never been rock climbing before. That was the truth. I was completely inexperienced in all of this stuff, and, quite frankly, scared to death.

And yet, why did I volunteer for the mission? I guess you could say that had something to do with the fact that, after I had stolen from people so much, and done so many immoral things in my life, I wanted to get something right for a change. I wanted a shot at redemption. I didn't want to end up as just another poor juvenile delinquent from Detroit who disappeared one day never to be seen again, because that was no doubt how I was being portrayed back at home.

I wanted to stand out.

The wind was very cold, but thanks to our winter clothing we were able to significantly increase the amount of heat our bodies retained. Surprisingly, I had heard that the air was much thinner up in the mountains, but I didn't notice it that much. Maybe things were different in this universe somehow.

It really made you ponder some philosophical questions, like if there was some higher power who was in charge of everything, and controlled both of these dimensions. I'd always considered myself an atheist, but maybe there might be more than just this.

Right now, though, that wasn't what was important.

As soon as we were fitted with our crampons, we started climbing up the glacier. Then, things got even more beautiful and terrible.

* * *

For the most part, we were supposed to be traveling on foot up the face of the glacier. However, the snow and ice was so packed in some places that we were forced to crawl.

Crawling was necessary because of the steep slope we were going up, and that if not for the rope that was present, we would go sliding backwards down the face of the glacier, only to end up dead several thousand feet below. I didn't want that, and neither did anyone else.

However, the harnesses we were wearing made crawling more difficult. The metal components jingled a lot, and could get in the way of me pawing snow to the side with the gloves I had been provided.

Right behind me, I had to avoid kicking Lucas in the face. Right in front of me was Abigail Ashland, a girl who was tall and curvy, as well as somewhat skinny. She looked like someone you would see in the red light district of Detroit (and that's a place I had been to before, trust me). The ice was very slippery, so we had to make sure to dig the crampons well into the snowpack, or at least as much as we could without getting our clothes wet.

While our snow pants were somewhat effective in keeping the water out, it didn't completely make my clothes underneath it impervious. My tattered blue jeans were already starting to feel a little wet. It might have been from sweat, but I doubted it.

Within ten minutes or so, I was already not having a very good time. I was starting to question whether or not I had really made the right decision to go on this mission. How much further up the glacier could the bomb be? Would there have been any other way that I could repay my debt to society?

So many unanswered questions. So many unanswered questions and so little time.

"Hey, Lucas" I said, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

"Yeah?" he panted. I could tell that he was becoming short of breath due to the incline. While I myself was doing all right thanks to being used to sprinting away from tense situations, Lucas Enfield must have been _suffering._

 _Lucas might have been built like a cat, but he sure isn't as agile as one!_

I kept that as a bubble thought, though. If this mission was to succeed, we would need to learn to work as a team. That might not happen if I was putting down Lucas.

"What are you thinking of this trip?" I asked.

Lucas took a few seconds to catch his breath (which wasn't easy, given the fact that we didn't want to hold up everyone else) before answering.

"It's a lot sweatier than I expected. Sweating in cold weather is the absolute _pits._ It's gotta be ten, maybe even five degrees above zero".

"Dude", I said, snorting, "you should move to Detroit. Gets absolutely _freezing,_ we get like _ten feet_ of lake-effect snow".

"I'm from freaking _Maine,_ dude. I could beat you on that".

We both laughed, which got us a disapproving glare from Abigail. Clearly, she was taking this very seriously.

After all of that had been said, there wasn't much left to do except to soldier on. Occasionally, we reached spaces about a hundred yards apart that had metal posts the shape of lollipops, the rope being threaded through. Since we couldn't get the carabiners through them, we had to briefly unclip ourselves from the rope in order to get around them.

This brief time untethered was very terrifying. Thankfully, our feet were covered in enough snow that we could probably stay on the glacier regardless, even if our harnesses weren't clipped to the rope. But the ice didn't help, as it made everything wet and slick.

Not for the first time, I considered unclipping my harness and just running up there. However, I knew that that wouldn't do much good. In fact, it would probably result in my doom.

* * *

It was at the point that we had been climbing for exactly two hours, according to my watch, that the first interesting thing happened on our climb.

Ahead of me, there was a scream as Abigail disappeared like an elevator whose chains had been cut. Almost immediately, the rope began tugging on my harness, and I felt like I was about to get dragged in with her if we didn't do something _fast._

"Hold fast!" Fox yelled. "Or else you'll go in too!"

That last sentence probably galvanized a lot more people into motion than there already had been, and they started pulling back on the rope. This put me deeper into the snow, which I was sure was starting to seep into my boxer shorts, but it was better than me falling into a crevasse (which probably wasn't warm in the slightest).

"Okay!" Fox ordered. "Now pull her up!"

This took double the effort. Abigail Ashland might have been a skinny girl, but it wasn't as though she wasn't a burden on us. We really had to _pull_ her up, and I could hear her trying to climb, but her crampons could not get a good hold on the ice. Therefore, we had to do all the work.

I was sweating so much that I worried my harness would slide off of my waist. It wasn't just from the exertion, but also because we were getting closer and closer to the sun, and there was less ozone layer up here. And yet, it was only getting colder.

After what must have been at least five minutes, Abigail emerged from her crevasse.

"Are you okay, Abigail?" Leon yelled forwards.

"Yes!" Abigail shouted.

"Good. Now, let's continue on".

It was more of this slog for what felt like an eternity. Seriously, I do not wish this on my worst enemy. It was a long, torturous crawl through snow and ice, and I couldn't even talk to Lucas the whole time. There were too many people close by who would hear anything I might say to him. And I'm not gay, I wouldn't have talked to him _romantically,_ but there were certain things that I felt should stay private.

If I had known what would come next, I might have been more forthcoming in talking to him.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

After we had rescued Abigail from a very dark and cold end, we continued up the face of the glacier. Every so often, we continued unhooking ourselves from the rope, and then clipping back in once we had passed the stakes in the ground. It was a very arduous trek.

I had no way to keep track of time, so Cole did it for me, as he had brought a watch on this trip. Why it had even been allowed was beyond me, but he gave me updates on each hour.

I grew thirsty, but we were instructed not to eat any of the snow, because it would apparently lower our core body temperature. I didn't know if it was clean or not, and I decided not to ask. I was also hungry, but it wasn't like I would be allowed to eat anything.

Why we hadn't been allowed to bring water was beyond me, but I figured it might be in order to travel light.

Around four in the afternoon, when the sun was finally beginning to sink below the hills, and we must have been at an elevation of well over eight thousand feet, Fox stopped us.

"This is the place" he said. "I can sense it".

"Are you sure about that, Fox? It could be a trap!" Leon replied.

Fox turned back to Leon, a good fifty yards behind him. We could all hear both of them yelling at each other, because in this mountainous region it echoed a ridiculous number of times.

"I am an _expert_ at this, Leon Powalski. I know a bomb when I see it".

"If you're sure, then" Leon said. "I'm not gonna stop you".

"I know I'm right" Fox said. Then, he looked back at the other 21 of us. "Which of you do you want to go with me? I want two people".

I didn't hesitate in raising my hand. "I'm in!" I shouted.

Abigail, the girl two people in front of me, was the other person who volunteered. With her tall, curvy frame, she wore an expression on her face that told us that she felt as though she was above this mission.

"All right" Fox said. "Climb up to where I am, and we'll unclip you from the rope. Then, you'll follow me into the caverns below the glacier. You ready?"

* * *

After we unhooked our harnesses from the rope, we followed Fox into a small hole in the ice that I had barely noticed. If Fox had not pointed it out, I might have fallen into it on accident and gotten stuck there. That would _definitely_ be a scary experience!

After the hole, there was what felt like a slide that lasted for twenty seconds or so. It was pretty slippery, the ice, and I knew that if I tried to climb back up it I was likely to break my neck. That would jeopardize our chances of defusing the bomb for sure.

I tried to see the fun part of it- a frozen waterslide!- when we finally arrived at the bottom. With being on terra firma once again, it was easier to see my surroundings.

We were in an icy tunnel about eight feet tall and ten feet side to side. It was a beautiful blue color, the same color as the eyes of Willow and me. And yet, this memory made me feel sad.

 _Willow._

If this mission failed, I might never see her again. That thought in and of itself was enough to make me determined to succeed, but it also made me want to cry at the same time. Emotions could really mess with your head.

"Be careful" Fox said. "The ice is _very_ slippery, and we don't want to have to call in a trauma surgeon from our medical team".

"Wait, you've got a medical team?" Abigail asked.

"You didn't know that?" I asked.

As it turned out, Abigail had only been at the academy for about a week longer than I had. She must not have been present when I had collapsed weeks ago.

"I'm the guy who passed out in the flight simulator last month" I said, trying to sound emotionally neutral, just telling it like it was.

"Really? Poor you" she said, in a voice that told me that she didn't really care.

"Yeah" Fox said. "And Lucas had to go through a tilt-table test, but he is perfectly okay. Otherwise, he wouldn't be on this mission with us".

"But you do have a medical team here?" Abigail asked.

"We have pretty much a complete hospital wing at the school, but I think you should know that by now" Fox said. "It's not like that's important, though; I'd rather get through this without anyone getting any serious injuries. It's another five minutes to the bomb, and then we'll have to descend back down the glacier through the darkness".

"Why couldn't we have landed the chopper at the _top_ of the glacier?" I asked.

"Simple. It would have slid down the ice" Fox said, as though that should have been obvious.

"How will we get out of this tunnel?" Abigail asked, as we passed more and more ice that reflected us in weird ways, like a house of mirrors at a carnival.

"There's another way back that doesn't involve the slide" Fox responded. "Come on, we're almost to the bomb. Let's go!"

* * *

The bomb was impossible to miss. Absolutely impossible.

It was built into the wall, or so it seemed to me. There were eight giant red sticks of dynamite attached to it, that would no doubt _obliterate_ everything that was within range of the glacier.

"Do you know how to defuse it?" Abigail asked.

"Yes" Fox said. "I don't like the amount of time we have, though".

Fox pointed to a digital timer with red numbers. It read _7:33,_ and was counting down by the second.

Meaning that we only had about seven and a half minutes to get this thing defused.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"No, Lucas, just stay put. I thought that I would need help, but it's actually pretty simple. The question is whether I have enough _time_ to get this thing neutralized".

Fox took a wrench out of his harness, which he also seemed to be using as a tool belt Leo Valdez-style. It wasn't a magical one, but you know what they say about any sufficiently advanced technology.

"Crap...shit... _fuck!"_ Fox said through clenched teeth.

"What is it?" Abigail and I asked in unison.

"There must be some kind of lock on this thing. We don't have enough time! Let's run!"

* * *

We didn't question Fox's orders. We jogged down the icy tunnel. More accurately, we slipped and slid, trying to stay upright as much as possible. It was more like ice skating than running, but we made some distance.

"Oh, no!" Fox said.

"What is it?" we asked him again.

"I think it's going off now!"

We were still thirty yards from the bottom of the slide when Fox led us down another tunnel. However, we were too late.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

 **BOOM!**

"What was _that?_ " I asked Leon.

"I think it was a bomb, dude!" a boy in front of me said.

 _THE bomb._

 _And Lucas is inside those tunnels._

I tried to make a move to get in there to try to help, but it wasn't going to have done anything anyway. At that moment, the shockwave hit us.

Snow flew everywhere, blinding me. It was almost beautiful through the orangey light from the winter sunset, but I knew that this was bad news.

And then, it hit _us._ The rope was snapped in two, and snow and ice kept falling away. I was no longer protected should what was below me give way. Already I could see other students falling, in all probability to their deaths. Lucas was probably down there somewhere, most likely nothing but stardust now...

After that, the foundation of snow and ice that had been supporting me fell out from under me, and I went tumbling down the side of the mountain.

* * *

It was absolute chaos. We weren't going at a complete free-fall, it was more like repeated somersaults (very painful against the ice), but it was even more confusing. The broken ropes that bound me to the others twisted and turned, like we were caught in an extremely grotesque dance routine.

Every so often, the sun illuminated a patch of snow, and I was able to see what was ahead of me and (kind of) control my descent. Whenever that happened, though, another wave of white snow came and buffeted us, and we kept on careening down the glacier.

All around me, I could see others flailing around, and doing somersaults like they were in a washing machine on the spin cycle. The metal clips on people's harnesses were jingling around, creating more noise and confusion than there already was on the mountain due to the blizzard.

Just when I thought this pattern would never end, we went off a twenty-foot headwall, and I landed on my rump in the cold snow.

* * *

It was just like a chair beneath me. I had been one of the lucky ones. Other people were struggling to stay above the rapidly settling snowbank, and it was looking as though some might not make it.

But more and more people kept popping up, like the mountain was a field in Whack-A-Mole. Leon, too, emerged out of the snow, turning paler.

.As avalanches go, it could have been a lot less fortuitous than ours. We ended up _right next to our helicopter._

Finally, twenty of us had surfaced above the snow.

"Leon! Will you do a body count?" one of the others asked. It was Cecil Bentley, I remembered. Yes, that was his name.

"Yeah, Bentley. Let's do this!".

"We've got Abigail, Bentley, Cole, Frederick, Jason, Octavia, Underwood, Baylor, Taysom...is that all?"

"Wait up!" shouted a thickset boy whom Leon had addressed as Jason.

"Yes?" Leon asked.

"Where is Lucas? And what about Fox McCloud, the most important one of us? I don't see them anywhere!"

The bad part was, I looked around and saw that Jason had been right, as much as I desperately wished he wasn't.

"This is very bad. And we've got the chopper right here. We can take off right when we have them...but _where are they?_

Fox McCloud had disappeared. And so had Lucas.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

I felt like I fell for a very long time. I tried to keep an eye on Fox, who held my hand the whole time, but I noticed that Abigail had managed to get above the rapid avalanche.

Eventually, we hit the bottom, wet, fluffy snow. I was bracing myself for the snow to come down and crush us. This might as well turn out to be my tomb. Forget being buried on the Enfield family plot!

It never came.

I didn't realize why until Fox gestured above him. "The ice has settled. It's not going to crush us. Truly, we have been very fortunate".

"Except for the fact that we're stuck in an air pocket in an avalanche!" I yelled.

"Don't waste your breath, Lucas" Fox said. "By now we're hungry, dehydrated, and yelling just uses up more air. If you have to talk, talk quietly".

I knew that he was telling the truth. At this point, we should just be focusing on staying alive long enough for a rescue team to come and get us.

My throat was very dry from six hours of not drinking anything. No, close to seven.

As if he was reading my thoughts, Fox said, "Don't eat the snow, either. It might quench your thirst, but it will ultimately dehydrate you in the end".

"Wow. You're such a survival expert, Fox" I said, laughing weakly.

"You learn this stuff in the academy. If we make it back there, you will become just as great as I" he said, raising his head.

We were in a seven-foot sphere of ice, blue all around us. Abigail had escaped, but we had not. I really felt that this was quite an appropriate place to have the crypt of Lucas Enfield.

It was also very cold in there, which caused me to shiver. But Fox didn't want me to do that, either, saying that it would just expend extra energy that I had no reason to use right now.

Finally, I felt like I was starting to get sleepy. I had heard that this was how hypothermia victims often died, and I had no doubt that this was going to be me soon. The ice was very wet, and had begun to soak my clothes, covering parts of my body I didn't even want to think about in icy water.

"Just try to stay awake, Lucas" Fox said. "I'd rather you didn't die on me here".

Since Fox himself was a vulpine, he was far less prone to freezing to death than I was. Even so, that didn't help me any. It was a little embarrassing to have to cuddle him for warmth, but that was the point things had come.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

We had been digging for three hours and still come up nothing. At this point, we were starting to lose hope.

"Maybe we should stop looking" Bentley said.

"No" Leon said flatly. "I'm not going to give up this search, even if there are lots of stars in the sky. Let's go back to the academy. We can get more specialized excavating equipment in order to dig them out. Shouldn't we at least recover the bodies?"

"I agree with that" I said.

And, with that, the decision was made to halt the attempt to rescue Lucas and Fox for now. We would get some more advanced shovels first.

But first, I knew that there was one person I would have to notify of what had happened on the glacier. Someone to whom I was not looking forward to breaking the news.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

"You said he would be safe!"

I wasn't proud of my outburst, but I felt that by now I could at least call Lucas my boyfriend. That would be the most accurate way to describe how I felt towards him.

And now, Cole McCallen, this kid who looked like such a juvenile delinquent, was telling me that he was in all probability dead and buried by hundreds of yards of snow? That does not make my day, to tell you the honest truth. It does not.

In fact, this was the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae that had melted a long time ago. It had melted as soon as Lucas had volunteered to go on this trip- no, as soon as we had been sold here against our will.

"We did everything we could. And we're going to go out again, try to rescue him. Are you going to come?"

I saw no reason not to. After all, I might see Lucas if he survived. And I wanted to be one of the people to greet his grave if he had not.

Either way, I benefited from going.

"I will".

* * *

 **FOX'S POV**

Despite all of my best efforts, Lucas managed to fall asleep. This was very deadly in such a cold place as this, because there was no guarantee that he would ever wake up again. At this point, I knew that he was _severely_ hypothermic, and likely to die if not given immediate medical help.

If they did manage to find him, and bring him back despite everything, he wouldn't be able to drink any hot chocolate or anything. They'd have to give him heated saline or something, along with an extremely warm blanket. This was a serious situation indeed.

I had learned all of this in flight academy back when I was Lucas's age. Looking at the pale face of this teenager, his steel blue eyes and fluffy light brown hair, I knew that he had potential. We'd just have to get back, and that was a big _if_ at this point.

To make matters worse, I was starting to get short of breath. I knew that this place probably gave us _some_ oxygen from above, thanks to one tiny hole I could see. I could tell, based on that, that night had fallen. And Lucas was now unconscious. This would _really_ make things better for us.

 _Great. Just great._

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

After getting some special digging equipment from the storage closet (more like a labyrinthine library), we took it on board the helicopter with us as we returned to the glacier.

Our one goal: to rescue Fox McCloud and Lucas Enfield, renewing our attack on the avalanche snow and saving our friends' lives. It might turn out to be too late for them, but we had a moral obligation to at least _try._ I didn't know if I would be able to live with myself otherwise, and I figured as much of the others.

We all wanted to get them out of their icy tomb, and we would go to any means necessary.

I felt an extra obligation due to the girl standing beside me on the flight. Willow Foster was the guy's _girlfriend._ If Lucas died in that mountain, she would suffer for sure.

"We're gonna get it. Get it together" I said, hoping that it was true.

* * *

Due to a storm, we were forced to wait out the night before attempting to dig around the snow in the morning. I figured that this was wasting time, and might be getting rid of any chance Lucas and Fox might have had. Leon, however, as well as Bentley and Abigail (the only two other students with us on the rescue mission), figured that this was necessary.

The good news was, the helicopter did have sleeping bags with it, so we were able to get a little bit cozy. I was sitting next to Willow, but I wasn't worried about Lucas getting jealous. After all, he was either unconscious or dead at this point, and I sincerely hoped the former.

If it was the latter, I would be devastated. So would everyone else in this helicopter.

We _had_ to do this. And I knew that we _could_ do this, somehow. Even so, it was a very long night.

Once the sun began to light up the sky once again, we assembled to determine our roles in the rescue.

Bentley and I would be doing the digging with their high-tech shovels. There was also an avalanche beacon attached to it, so that we could sense the hearts beating if there were indeed beating hearts somewhere below all that snow.

Leon and Willow would be taking care of the external rewarming. He had blankets ready, as well as hot packs in order to get Fox and Lucas warm again.

Dr. Howler was also present. She had two large thermoses of hot chocolate, but also had two bags of heated intravenous saline ready in case they were unconscious (which, she told me, was pretty likely).

That was the plan, and we would not deviate from it.

* * *

Cecil Bentley had very strong arms. "I'm from Montana, worked on a ranch for a lot of my life" he said. "I know how to use a shovel!"

"Glad we have someone like you" I said. "It definitely helps. One of the people trapped is Willow's boyfriend. I hope we can find him, because he's my friend too".

"Lucas?" Bentley asked me.

"Yeah, he's the one I'm talking about".

"He's the one who passed out in the flight simulator last month, right?" he said.

"How did you-" I said, but then I realized that the answer to that question was very simple.

"It's common knowledge" Bentley told me.

The shovels that we had been provided easily ripped through the ice like it was sand. Even if they were five hundred feet below the surface, an hour of digging would be sufficient to find them.

Thankfully, it didn't take very long until we hit on a round plate of ice that was like a dome in shape. Digging around it revealed it to be a sphere, and it was rather exhausting.

"Could they be in here?" Bentley said.

"It seems quite possible. Let's ask for some more powerful ice picks".

* * *

Leon was willing to provide us with ice picks, in order to get through the dome, although he warned us that we should be careful so as not to crush Fox and Lucas. They might be numb by now, but there was no way to tell if they would feel pain or not. Or, they might be crushed.

 _Or they might already be dead..._

No. I had to keep on believing that Lucas was still alive. I couldn't live with that hanging over me.

Bentley and I renewed our attack on the ice. It wasn't difficult to break the ice, and we managed to get a large "window" open in the sphere. Once we cleared the remaining snow and ice away from it, we saw the scene for ourselves.

Fox McCloud seemed to be alive and conscious, because he was shivering. There was no reason to believe that he was in that grave danger. Apparently, being a vulpine must have helped him.

Lucas Enfield, on the other hand, was limp and still on the blue ice. His eyes were closed, and yet there was a smile on his face, as if he was having a very pleasant dream. Which, if there is a heaven, he might have been.

"We've got to get them out of here" Bentley said.

"I agree, let's help get them onto the helicopter".

* * *

Fox was too weak to walk on his own power, so we helped to half-lead, half-carry him out of his snowy crypt to the chopper, where Dr. Howler was waiting. Once he was in, they sat him down, and the Bengal tiger began checking his vital signs.

Leon helped us get a stretcher in order to carry Lucas's unconscious body out of there. At best, he was unconscious.

Finally, we had managed to get both of them onto the chopper, and then we sped downwards, eager to leave the glacier behind.

"What are you going to do, Dr. Howler?" Willow asked.

At that moment, the doctor was checking Lucas's pulse. "He's breathing normally, so there is no need to give him extra oxygen. On the other hand, he's still very cold...let's get the blanket".

Dr. Howler placed a blanket on top of Fox and Lucas, who were lying next to each other on a makeshift bed. I touched the blanket, and I instantly knew that this thing was just like a radiator. It would be just as effective to warm both of them up.

"Fox, drink this" Dr. Howler said, handing him a mug of hot chocolate. "It'll warm up your insides, and get some fluids in you".

Fox accepted the drink and took a sip. "That's heavenly" he slurred, like an alcoholic heading home from the pub after a night of heavy drinking.

"And Lucas is unconscious, so he can't drink anything. Thankfully, I came _prepared_ ".

I watched as Dr. Howler inserted an IV into Lucas's left arm, hanging a bag of warmed saline solution above him.

"He's also pretty dehydrated, hypothermia will do that to you, so this is going to help him a bunch. It looks like both of them will be fine" she said, smiling at me.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

I wasn't one to cry easily. Even when we had been carted away from our homes, sold by our own families, I managed to avoid shedding any tears.

But now, seeing Lucas look so pale and vulnerable on the floor, I found myself holding back waves of fury coming from my eyes. Cole seemed to be pretty nice now that I had gotten to know him a little better, but the fact that he was the one person I really and truly _loved_ made things worse.

Hopefully, the heated fluids would make him wake up and talk to me. As Dr. Howler placed electrodes on his chest, I realized that I didn't want to lose him. Thankfully, I probably wouldn't.

Even so, it was pretty scary watching all of that happen.

Lucas might have been unconscious, but I felt like he was saying to me, _It's gonna be fine. Don't worry._ And I hoped that, some other time, I could go out at night and see him again. Maybe even go up to the roof, underneath the stars, and look at the glacier where he had nearly died.

I didn't fully relax, however, until we arrived back at the academy, and Lucas and Fox were wheeled into the hospital wing.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Slowly, out of the cocoon of warmth that I had found myself in, I managed to surface. I didn't think that I would ever see this room again, at least not from my physical body.

When I had fallen asleep back in that little dome underneath the snow, I had felt myself slipping away, in a way. It was peaceful, though. It was as though some higher being was saying, _Lucas, just go to sleep. Never wake up. What's your favorite lullaby?_

Imagine my surprise when, instead of pearly gates or whatever heaven might look like, I found myself lying in a hospital bed with electrodes on my chest and an IV in my arm.

I tried to stand up, but my every movement felt sluggish, like when you have a fever. If this was heaven, it sure was a weird one.

One of the machines next to me said, " _Patient is awake_ " in a mechanical, robotic tone. Dr. Howler, who had been looking at something on her computer, came over to my bedside. She was looking surprised but relieved, like she had expected me to never wake up or something.

"Morning" I said groggily.

Dr. Howler, so serious and stoic most of the time, actually _laughed._ "It's actually not morning anymore".

Remembering the mountain, and the avalanche...it all came back to me. Why I had felt so sluggish. Why I was in the hospital. Yes, that was it.

"How long have I been out?" I asked. My throat was very dry, and it felt like it was lined with sand. No wonder I had the IV.

The Bengal tiger looked at me, more seriously this time. "It's about lunchtime on Monday, so about eighteen hours. Are you hungry?"

My stomach growled, and I realized that I was. I nodded, noticing how much my head hurt.

"You must be very thirsty. Do you want some water?" she asked me.

I nodded once again.

She went over to the bubbler next to my bed and filled a paper cup. Grateful that I didn't have to eat snow, I chugged the water greedily.

"So...what happened?" I asked, feeling the water begin to rehydrate my vocal cords.

"Well, you remember what it was like on the mountain? The avalanche?"

"Yes" I said. "I remember all of it".

"Well, you see, the bomb went off before Fox could defuse it. Because of this, the whole glacier ended up exploding. You and Fox, if you remember, were buried under many tons of snow, but there was a dome that went around you, allowing you to still breathe. Whether it be divine intervention or just plain dumb luck, you are thankfully still with us".

"Where is Fox?" I asked, suddenly realizing that he wasn't there.

Just then, the same vulpine who had been on the mission with us came over. He had evidently not suffered the effects of the cold nearly as much as I had, and had recovered much faster.

"I got hypothermia, too, since I was trapped with you. I can't believe you fell asleep like that, you could have _died._ You _should_ have died, not that I wish you had. But I came out of it a lot faster. Just a blanket for me, and some hot chocolate".

I snorted, which is my way of laughing when I am slightly amused by something. "Why couldn't _I_ get hot chocolate?"

Dr. Howler didn't say anything, but I could tell based on her expression that she was going to state the obvious. _Because you were unconscious and couldn't drink anything, so I had no choice but to give you an IV instead._

"You know, we still have some hot chocolate. I only drank one of the two thermoses, do you want some?" Fox said.

I shook my head. "I'm fine. If it's been sitting out for 18 hours, it's probably _cold_ chocolate by now, right?"

Fox snorted. "Making cheesy jokes. That's a key sign that someone's getting better".

"But about the hot chocolate? Because I'm pretty thirsty right now".

"It's been reheated, and besides, it wasn't out there for the whole time you were unconscious. From what I've been told, they dug from four to seven trying to get us, but then they gave up. They went back to get more specialist equipment so that they could break through the ice. Dr. Howler, is it okay if he has hot chocolate?"

"Only if he promises not to spill it" Dr. Howler said cynically. "These sheets are expensive, you know".

Fox filled a cup with hot chocolate and handed it over to me. My every movement felt sluggish, but I guess that it's just what happens when you get nearly frozen to death and then rewarmed rapidly.

Even so, I managed to sip the brown, frothy goodness, although it could have used a little more sugar. But that wasn't an important thing for me to be concerned about.

After all, I was alive. That was all that mattered.

"So I was really trapped under there? Unconscious? For twelve hours?"

"Yes, that is what happened. You are lucky to be alive, Lucas. I can't believe that we survived that" Fox said, patting me on the leg. He had to avoid my chest because of the electrodes, and he had to be careful of the IV in my left arm.

"Fox McCloud, I am proud to be your flight student" I said, and I really meant it.

Fox laughed. "I'm not actually a teacher here. I'm on leave from combat back on Venom. The situation is really bad there- we're being spread very thin. I wanted to help with this mission, though, so that's what I did. For what it's worth, though, I am proud to be your teacher, Lucas Enfield".

* * *

Now, it was time for the moment of truth.

"How long do I have to stay in here?" I asked Dr. Howler. I didn't know if I would like the answer, but it was one of those Band-Aids that you just had to rip off.

The Bengal tiger pursed her lips. "I think that you should stay at least until the morning, and no physical classes for at least a week. Engineering, Field Medicine, those will be fine. Mathematics, too, should be okay after a couple of days. No classes for at least three days, no Aquatics, Flight Simulators, or anything else physical for a week. That is my prescription".

She noticed the annoyed expression on my face, but she said, "Sorry. Your body has just really taken a beating with the temperatures, and it needs to recover. You understand that, don't you?"

I did. Maybe I could use a little rest after the mission today ( _yesterday,_ I had to keep reminding myself).

"I'll see about getting you something to eat for lunch. Just sit tight there and wait for it".

She went off to fetch something from the dining hall, but I fell asleep before she came back from warmth and physical exhaustion.

* * *

 **This chapter is dedicated to my father, who has December 27 as his birthday. I always feel bad for those with their birthdays in the winter, because they live farther from Christmas and their birthdays always either get overshadowed by Christmas, or they just have to wait a REALLY long time for their next time where they get a lot of presents. I'm just glad that my birthday is in June, and I'm almost halfway two Christmases. Man, my parents are really getting on in years. But that's neither here nor there.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this ridiculously long chapter, which took me about 4 days to write in total. I had quite a lot of time.**

 **This was an extremely fun chapter to write, and I thought it was HILARIOUS when the joke was made about cold chocolate. As a northerner, we don't like cold chocolate up here!**

 **I am at 20 reviews now, and about 1,200 views on this story. I hope that reaches 50 and 3,000 by the time this story is over. Considering that I expect this to be about 20 chapters (I'm just about done with Chapter 13), we are a little behind schedule. So, please rate and review, guys!**

 **SnowLucario out.**

 **(P.S. I am feeling a lot better now. I just had a fever of 100.4, and I'm glad I got new pajamas for Christmas, because my old ones are pretty dirty and now sweaty).**


	11. Konstantin

**Welcome to the last chapter of 2016! I don't care about all the celebrity deaths, honestly. People die. That's how things work.**

 **Have not been able to write due to poor Internet where I am. Will start up again once I'm back at my home.**

 **This chapter is going to introduce an OC given to me by a user named Zaravan. I hope that you enjoy reading about him at least as much as I enjoyed writing about him, and I hope that you review in order to tell me if that is the case. Constructive criticism is much appreciated!**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

I became aware of my surroundings once again some time later, probably not more than an hour or so. At least, the clock on the wall across from my bed told me as such.

I assessed that I was still in the hospital wing, still tethered to an IV, and that Dr. Howler was coming back in. And yes, she was bringing me some lunch.

My stomach growled once again. I had not eaten anything for at least 28 hours, if my math skills were still intact. And I had every reason to suspect that they were.

"Hey, Lucas. I brought you some food from the dining hall. If you eat it and keep it down for an hour, I will take your IV out. We'll call it a deal?"

"Deal" I said.

What she brought me was a bowl of chicken and gnocchi stew with a slice of bread and half of a sliced apple. It all looked very good, and I had no doubt that I would be able to eat all of it.

"Just be careful not to spill it" Dr. Howler said.

* * *

Even though I still felt sluggish, I was able to finish my food fairly quickly. Not at my normal pace, which is kind of like an animal, but it didn't hurt that the food at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy was world-class.

"You ate that pretty quickly, Lucas. I hope you don't puke it up, but I'll keep a bucket on your bedside table just in case".

Sure enough, Dr. Howler placed a metal bucket that my head could have fit comfortably in on the granite table on the right-hand side of my bed.

The thing is, when a barf bucket is placed next to you, it seems to make you want to toss your cookies more. Not that anyone ever _wants_ to vomit.

Even so, I managed to endure the whole hour. _Endure_ is the wrong word, really, since I didn't even feel sick to my stomach at all.

At the end of the sixty minutes, the Bengal tiger took out my IV, just like she said she would. You would think this would be a sign that I could go, right?

"Nope, Lucas. You've still got to stay the night. I just want to make sure you get better rest here than you would in the dormitory. I feel that there would be so many people badgering you with questions, when you're not fully recovered yet. You do understand that, don't you?"

I nodded my head, although I knew that this would only delay my being forced to tell the story for a little bit. After that, I would still get hounded by people who claimed to be my friends but only wanted to know my side of this tale. A tale that involved me nearly dying.

After that hour was gone, Dr. Howler left me to do some paperwork at her desk, and I was left to stare at the wall until I fell asleep once again.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

After I watched the unconscious Lucas get sent into the hospital wing, Dr. Howler insisted that I go to my usual classes for the rest of the day. I tried to protest, but until they woke him up it wasn't like there was much I could say to him and have him hear me, so that was what I did. Besides, you did _not_ want to anger a Bengal tiger with a syringe.

Man, that is a very disturbing mental image. I apologize.

In any case, I managed to get through the day well enough, and yet I still had to get something off of my chest. If Lucas had indeed come to, I wanted to be the first person to speak to him. Of course, he might not have, but that was something that I had no control over.

It was only during shower hour that I got the chance to visit him. The secretary of the infirmary allowed me in once I told him that I had known Lucas from Maine. The anthropomorphic rooster was eager to do it, in fact.

Lucas was sleeping peacefully in one of the beds near a window. His IV had been taken out, and he looked a lot less pale. Clearly, he was doing a hell of a lot better than I had seen him this morning.

I went over to his left arm, where Dr. Howler had placed a Band-Aid, and tapped him on the shoulder.

I assumed that it would be difficult to wake Lucas. I was wrong. No sooner had I lifted my hand than his eyes fluttered open.

"Hey, Willow" he said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "What's up? You're visiting me?"

"Yes, it's shower hour. Do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah, I woke up earlier. I was out for about eighteen hours total, she says".

" _Wow,_ you look a hell of a lot better now. You must be well-rested" I said.

Lucas laughed a little bit. Then, his face turned far more serious.

"Look, I'm _sorry!_ I did what I thought I had to do, and it ended up not working out too well! But I just wanted to save those innocent people".

"And now they're all dead, and not only that, but _you_ almost died too!" I said. I really was pissed off at Lucas for doing something so dangerous.

"The other Cornerians would have died even if I hadn't gone, and I am completely fine now. It's not like my not being in that group would have changed anything".

I couldn't believe it! He was missing the point completely.

"Look" I said. "You don't have the right to do this, and keep scaring me like that. You do realize that, right?"

"Relationships don't work like that!" Lucas said. "You can't just make up a ton of rules!"

"Sure I can" I said.

Our row was interrupted by the nurse appearing once again. Dr. Howler had a very stern expression on her face, and I knew that she meant business.

"Lucas, I get that your girlfriend is not happy with you, but _chill out._ And, you too, Willow, please just _stop fighting!_ Lucas's body has been under so much stress already, and this isn't what he needs right now".

I looked back at Lucas before the Bengal tiger forced me to leave. I walked out, feeling thoroughly irritated.

I wasn't going to break up with him unless he did the same to me. However, I really did feel like he had no right to almost die on me, when we were both at the ripe old age of 16. He had barely even taken my opinion into account in his decision to risk his life.

And then, I had an epiphany. I realized that it wasn't my place to decide what Lucas could or couldn't do. I might have just seriously jeopardized our relationship, and I only had myself to blame. I didn't have to visit him, and I had been the one to start that argument.

I couldn't help myself from crying all the way back to my dorm room.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Dr. Howler kept me in the hospital wing overnight before releasing me with the instructions to not take part in any of my classes today. I was okay with that, because I didn't know if I felt physically capable of doing so.

I still felt sluggish, partly because of the fact that I had been chilled to the bone and then reheated. As such, I tired easily as I walked to the dining hall for lunch. I'd eaten breakfast in the infirmary once again, but I had an easier time staying awake now.

Cole and Will were still in the usual spot, having saved my usual seat for me. I noticed that Mike wasn't with them, but I didn't think too much of it. Getting nearly frozen to death is pretty distracting.

"Hey, Lucas, are you feeling any better?" Will asked me. It was the second time in a month that he had asked me that question, so that illustrated just how dangerous my new life was.

"You know what happened?" I asked.

"I told him" Cole said. "We're both glad that you're all right. The last time I saw you, you were unconscious and had a body temperature of 88. It's only been two days, and you look a hundred percent again!"

"Seriously, Lucas", Will said, "Cornerian medical technology must be 211Y or something!"

I snorted. "To tell the truth, I still don't feel like I could do any of my classes, even if I wanted to. I still feel kind of sluggish, like I'm sick or something".

You know that feeling when you have been sitting next to a heater, and when you stand up after a while without drinking water your vision darkens for a bit? That was what I felt like initially after leaving the hospital wing. Now, I merely felt like I had a slight fever.

"That's an outrage, still, that they can just bar you from your classes!" Will said.

"Will, you don't understand, you weren't _on_ this trip. You didn't feel how cold it was. You didn't have to dig through the glacier to rescue Lucas Enfield" Cole said matter-of-factly.

Will looked like he was about to respond, and I was going to have to mediate between the two of them. Thankfully, I was saved from that by the usual occurrence of our food rising on its tribute plates.

On the menu today? Steak and vegetables, steaming hot from the oven. There was also root beer available, and it all looked amazing to me.

I helped myself to some steak, and I relished being able to eat as much as I wanted again. I wasn't necessarily a glutton by any means, but I wanted to be able to _choose_ how much I ate, not have Dr. Howler just bring some food to me.

Cornerian steak was better than Earthly steak, for sure. I didn't think that there was some supernatural difference or anything, it just tasted better. Once I was done, and the lunch period was not yet over, I asked Cole and Will where they thought Mike had gone.

"I don't know" Will says. "Mike seems to have been isolating himself more and more ever since you went on the mission. He hasn't eaten with us ever since you came back yesterday morning. Don't know what that's all about".

"Who cares, though?" Cole says. "The food's great, our classes are getting easier for us, and Lucas is safe. Everything is wonderful now".

"Thousands of people died as a result of that bomb, so please don't tell me everything is wonderful now!" I said to Cole. It came out more harshly than I meant it.

Cole seemed to be fine with that, though. He just shrugged it off, and then we all went to our rest hour. And then, we had our first afternoon class.

* * *

It was an exceedingly boring afternoon, but what else did I expect when I was still not considered healthy enough to take part? It wasn't as though I felt back up to my full physical capabilities.

In addition, I noticed that Mike was getting more and more apart from the other two boys. In Engineering, they barely even spoke to each other, for instance. Normally, I would have just been focusing on the insane amount of Engineering I had missed out on, but luckily we didn't have to do any homework outside of classes. That would have been very cruel to those who had gone on the glacial goose chase.

However, there seemed to be more to this. It was like he had something to hide, like he was _deliberately_ avoiding their company. Maybe he was just jealous that Cole had gotten to go up to the mountains, but that wouldn't explain that Will was behaving perfectly normally.

There had to be some other explanation. And, later that night, my mind reached one.

First, though, I had another conversation with Willow.

* * *

I hadn't seen my girlfriend ever since our fight in the infirmary the previous day. I felt that I had to help to take care of it, because it would be very awkward if Willow became my _ex-_ girlfriend when we were still trapped at the same flight academy, going to many of the same classes. That would not be a pleasant situation, and so I wanted to avoid it if possible.

Drawing on my knowledge that Willow frequently lingered in the dining hall during shower hour, I decided to do the same, in the hopes that I would encounter her.

I was not disappointed. Within five minutes, she appeared, looking a little surprised to see me.

"Hey, Willow" I said, trying to keep my voice level. I didn't want to make it sound like I desperately wanted her to forgive me.

"What is it, Lucas?" she asked, turning to face me. I noticed the curve of her face, and knew that she was still a little pissed.

"I was just wondering if you were still mad at me for going on the mission" I said. There. I'd said it. Now, I was just waiting for her reaction.

"To be honest, Lucas, not really. I'm sorry that I made such a big deal out of it back in the infirmary. It's just...you were unconscious for _eighteen hours,_ encased in ice for most of that time. I can't believe you survived".

"I'm glad that you said that you're not still furious. Are we still together or what?"

"Yes, we are" Willow said. "And, I'll go one step further".

She took me into her arms and kissed me. It wasn't the full-on romantic one on the lips, just on the cheek, but that wasn't nothing. It showed that she really did care about me.

As long as I still had Willow, the _one_ remnant of my former life, in here with me, that would help to keep me sane.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

It was an ordinary day, but it was also an extraordinary day.

The winter sun rose a little later than usual, but it still managed to wake me up with plenty of time. I had to get to my destination by noon today, or else I would be in trouble with the scholarship committee.

My Astros jersey still hung on the wall, which was what I had decided I was going to wear today. The admissions process had gone completely without incident, so I had no reason to assume that I would have to dress formally. I could just wear pretty much what I wanted, so I was going to wear that underneath my standard black Greatcoat. I never took that thing off.

The reason? I was overweight, and my fatness was far less pronounced if I hid it behind my large overcoat. Plus, the jersey made me look somewhat athletic, so that was the impression I decided to make on my fellow students.

The University Of Texas at Austin had offered me a scholarship for my abilities in history class, so we didn't have to worry too much about money. Our apartment, on the other hand, did not look like one that a well-off family would live in. It was small, and my mother always said that she would like a little more living space. But as long as we had each other, it was okay, she said.

I lived with my grandparents, mother, and younger sister, who was 15 and a freshman in high school. Kellie might have been snobbish at times, but she was still my sister. I loved my mother and grandparents dearly, because they clearly cared about me. It didn't matter if I was only average in school or slightly overweight.

My father, on the other hand, was not present. He died of a heart attack when I was only twelve years old. I was very close to him, and it had definitely given me some more incentive to try to lose a couple of pounds. I used to be a lot fatter than I was on the morning I went off to college, so it should not need to be said that I was successful in my efforts.

* * *

After having toast, eggs, and bacon, a nice hearty breakfast for my last one at home, I bade goodbye to my family. Then, I took the stairs down from the fifth floor to the first floor.

After all, who needs stairs? Certainly not me! Any amount of exercise I could get was a positive contribution to my day.

Since I lived in Houston, the streets were very busy at this time of day, what with people needing to get to work and such. I didn't have to go to work today, I was going somewhere that would determine what work I could get.

My apartment building had a special parking garage, so I went up to level P3 and recognized my license plate. Not that you even _needed_ a license plate. My car stood out like a sore thumb for being an army green Jeep. You don't see too many of those in modern-day Houston!

I got in my car and drove out of my parking garage. I was now looking towards the future.

Little did I know, my future would not consist of going to UTA. But we'll get to that later.

* * *

It's a long drive from Houston to Austin. In the best of circumstances, it takes about two and a half hours. Most of the time, you're passing boring farmland and endless pine forests, much like in the rest of the southern United States.

The only reprieve I got from the endless boring scenery was the occasional towns and cities I would pass. And this was one of the _least_ rural parts of Texas, the other major part of the state where people lived being Austin and Dallas. Everything else was cattle country.

There are 254 counties in Texas, most of which are named after historical people or whatever. And most of them nobody has ever heard of, too. That was one of the harsh realities of living in the second largest state in the USA by area. A lot of places were forgotten.

Not today, however. The traffic was _crazy_ heading out of the city and towards the suburbs of Fort Bend County. I mean, a lot of people lived there, so it was understandable. Even so, I had to be at college by noon. I'd left around eight thirty.

I didn't worry too much just yet. After all, once we got outside of the Houston area, the traffic would surely ease up. And then, I would start to make up the time that I had lost.

As I passed through some more counties, I grew increasingly desperate. Time was running down, and I didn't know if my excuse for not arriving at college on time would be accepted by Mrs. Holloway, the woman who would be admitting me into the school.

 _Mrs. Holloway, I'm sorry. I got in a lot of traffic on the way. It was seriously bumper-to-bumper, and there was no way I could have arrived on time. I really hope you can forgive me for that. I left as early as I could have._

Probably, she would be okay with it. But there was only one way to find out.

* * *

The traffic had been bad for three hours. But when I reached Bastrop County, the last one before I got to the city of Austin, it reached an absolute standstill.

The highway had turned into a parking lot, essentially. I didn't know why that was, but I knew that my making it on time would be severely jeopardized by this.

It was a very risky idea. I'd done it a few times before when traffic was horrible. But nobody tells Konstantin Brockenbough what to do.

I got out of my Jeep and began to walk down the lane. Sure enough, nobody else was moving. The traffic was at a standstill, so I tried to use the tactic of attempting to direct traffic. The whole time, I tried to keep an eye on my army green Jeep, in order to make sure that I didn't lose track of which vehicle was mine.

The day was mild, yet somewhat warm. I could tell that wearing my overcoat was a mistake. But why _wouldn't_ I be wearing my overcoat when I didn't want people to know I was fat?

After a couple of minutes of walking, still remembering my vehicle, I reached the crest of a small hill. Then, I looked over, and I saw a sight that shocked me.

It was as if time had stopped in the middle of a massive tailgate party, except without a party. And everyone was inside their cars. _Not a single vehicle_ was moving. It looked like, maybe half a mile ahead, there was something that was blocking it, because traffic seemed to be moving fine on the other side of the jam.

There was what seemed like a massive tank, with the emblem of a red flying pig on the side. It was straddling all four lanes, and nobody was going past it. There was no way that anything _could_ pass it, it was so massive.

 _Well, I'm gonna have to put this guy in his place,_ I thought, putting on my boxing gloves. They were in the pattern of the American flag, at least the right one was. The left one was the Texas flag, with the navy blue left side with the lone white star.

Finally, I put on my _DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS_ cowboy hat, just to make sure that whoever manned this tank knew that I meant business.

Looking at it from an outsider's perspective, I would have looked absolutely ridiculous. However, I was a young man with a plan; to get to college. And I was going to run half a mile down there in order to achieve that.

* * *

It took fifteen minutes for me to reach the bottom, mainly because I had to weave in and out of cars, looking for openings to make it through. If the tank decided to move before I reached it, I might as well be committing suicide right now, because there would then be no way I could get back to my Jeep.

Luckily, that did not happen. I saw the tank in front of me, and I was hoping that I would be able to take the driver in a fight, if that was what it came down to. I definitely felt mentally and emotionally capable of socking that person in the groin for making me late.

Finally, I got to the side of the tank, which was actually quite impressive to look at. However, I felt very irritated at the thought of the person inside refusing to move.

I tried to climb the tank, in order to maybe sneak inside or something, but they don't make those things metallic for no reason.

The _instant_ I got onto the "wall" of the tank, a siren went off, and I was thrown off. I flew seven feet in the air and landed painfully on my back.

I got up. Thankfully, nothing was broken that I could tell. Not thankfully, nothing in the tank had been broken either.

A woman stepped out of the tank. Except...she wasn't a "woman" in the way you normally would define the term. This woman seemed to be an anthropomorphic owl, but somehow I could tell that it was female.

The owl looked at me suspiciously, raising an eyebrow, as if she thought I was lying to her. It almost made me want to laugh. Had _she_ been the one driving the tank, and parking it right in the middle of a Texas highway? What was wrong with her?

The answer was, quite a bit. You see, the woman was holding a bow in her hand. She pointed it at my leg.

Then, she seemed to ease up a bit. "You are Konstantin Brockenbough, yes?"

"Yes" I said. Really, how many _other_ people have that name? Show me just one in the United States, and I'll give you five thousand dollars.

"Sorry" she said.

Her right hand released the arrow, and it plunged right into my right thigh. I couldn't believe it. She had just _shot_ me with an arrow. What was going on?

I didn't know why at first, but I started to feel dizzy. Without realizing it, I passed out.

* * *

 **For the record, I have been to the only state larger than Texas. On the leg where we drove from Anchorage to Seward, the scenery was NOT boring in the slightest! There was the sea, and lots of woods and cliffs, with fjords.**

 **At the time I am writing this summary, the outline for Chapter 15 is complete. I'd say that this may end up being 20 chapters or so.**


	12. The Wasp Nest

**Happy New Year!**

 **This chapter has four POVs, so I hope you will appreciate that. Also, with this chapter, Wing And A Scare edges over the 200-page mark (55,000 words). This story will probably be around 90,000 or so, but that might change based on how I feel.**

 **As for the question, we have got another one from Singlewave: What is the sickest you have ever been?**

 **My answer: When I was a few months old, I had viral meningitis and a temperature of 103. I have told this story before on my Mario Party 7 playthrough of Pyramid Park, but I'll say it again. They were giving me IV antibiotics until they realized it was viral, which is far less serious. I was in the hospital for a few days. Since then, I have never had a serious health issue.**

 **After that unhappy story, it is time for one that is less happy still. Or at least, the next chapter will be depressing.**

 **Enjoy reading SnowLucario's first chapter of 2017!**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

It had been three days since I had been released from the hospital wing. Three long days of nothing but going from class to class, _wishing_ desperately that I could have actually done something in one of those classes. If only Dr. Howler hadn't been so strict!

I mean, I guess that it is necessary to have a certain amount of strictness when dealing with patients, but the fact remained that this was a little bit excessive, don't you think? After the first day, the sluggish feeling was gone, replaced by a vigor for normal lessons that I was unable to satisfy.

But finally, on the morning of January 16, 201Y, I finally got out of bed with something to look forward to. My first day of classes since I'd woken up in the hospital wing. In fact, if you only count the _normal_ classes, it was my first day since New Year's.

It was during breakfast on this morning that the unexpected happened.

I was sitting with Cole and Will (Mike was still avoiding us) when a bell rang. I recognized this as the bell that rang to announce that a new student was entering the school. This was going to be interesting.

Ever since Seventy-Four, we hadn't had any new recruits. I guess that the Cornerian Army was having a hard time finding innocent civilians from the human universe to kidnap and send to this school. I didn't know how things were doing on the warfront, but given that our mission _here_ had been a failure, it couldn't be good.

Based on that, you would've thought that they would be recruiting like crazy, but for whatever reason there were not too many new students. That was, not until today.

* * *

There was soon a young man standing in front of us. He was wearing glasses and he had brown hair. His dark gray overcoat was over all of this, so he looked like some businessman you might see in a play set during the Victorian era.

In other words, he looked like a stereotypical nerd.

"Konstantin", Katt said, "will you please take off your coat?"

The new guy- Konstantin?- looked very reluctant to take off his jacket. However, when Katt gave him her death stare, he relented, and we all saw more of him.

He appeared to be slightly overweight, which made it no surprise that he didn't like to take off his coat. He wore an expression on his face that did not do anything to hide the fact that he very clearly did not want to be here.

This was something that I completely related to. Just last month, I had been new here. I understood how Konstantin must be feeling right now.

"Konstantin Brockenbough is from Houston, Texas, and he is our newest student. Is there anything you would like to say to our existing student body at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy?" Katt asked.

Konstantin backed down, but he was looking very angry still. I could tell that there was about to be a verbal onslaught coming out of his mouth, and we would be powerless to stop it.

"I fucking _hate_ you guys! You were the ones who dragged me here against my will, and aren't tranquilizer darts _illegal_ here? Because I'm only loyal to one country, the good old U.S. of A, and you guys had to _steal_ that from me! I was _going to college_ before you sent me here, and do you know what I have to say about that?"

"Konstantin, _calm down"_ Katt said. "I know you're not happy to be here, but you're needed. The situation on the warfront is very bad, and I know that you like war video games?"

Konstantin nodded, but he still looked like he was ready to punch Katt where it hurt.

"Then you will be a great asset to this school. But you need to go to your table. It's right next to the guy with fluffy brown hair, with Lucas Enfield, Cole McCallen, Michael Kirk, and William Wexford. You got that?"

Konstantin nodded once again, and then he walked over in our direction. I waved at him in order to make sure he knew where to sit.

Once the new boy had sat down, our breakfast rose up. Today, it was French toast with berries.

Konstantin seemed to be resisting my attempts to converse with him, and I noticed that Mike was still conspicuously absent. What did all of these things mean? I knew that Konstantin's tirade was still a mystery as to his motivation for that, but I could assume that it was because he must have been angry at this situation.

So what _was_ going on? That was a question I had been asking myself a lot over the last month.

* * *

After Konstantin apologized for his rant against Corneria (which I strongly suspected was not a genuine one), he, as well as the rest of us, were released to go to our first class. For me, it was very significant. I would finally get to do something!

Our first class today was Field Medicine. I had received a certain level of training in that field during our period of preparation for the mountain mission, but other than that I was well behind our class. There was no telling what might come up that everyone else would be veterans in, and yet I would still be learning the ropes.

Thankfully, the instructor was very kind today. Noting that it was my first time here in a while, she asked me to show off my blood type tattoo, which I did. Then, we began to learn how to identify edible plants, which was really more of a survival skill than a medical one, but I guess that you'll need medical care if you eat something poisonous on accident, assuming you survive long enough to get it.

Konstantin seemed to be very good at this, though, which was a little bit of a surprise. You wouldn't think that this slightly fat guy would be so skilled in field medical skills, but somehow he was able to hold his own despite being new here.

"Class, Konstantin is very skilled with identifying edible plants. That is impressive, considering you are from...Houston, is it?"

"Yeah" Konstantin said. "That's a big city".

"Oh" the instructor said, blushing. "No offense, but I imagined that you wouldn't have learned this too much if you live in a big city like that. But you seem like a _natural_ to me. How did you learn all of that?"

"Well, I play, or rather _played,_ a lot of survival video games that taught me these skills. Right now, I am very grateful for them".

This I could tell was genuine, even with my social skills leaving much to be desired. The instructor nodded, although she reminded us that playing video games was, in general, not the most reliable way to learn about edible plants. Sometimes, you couldn't be sure of the information it was providing you with.

The teacher seemed determined, for the rest of the lesson, to take a greater and greater liking to Konstantin. I didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but I decided that, from here on out, I would have to constantly be on my toes.

* * *

After our next class, Aquatics (which I was forced to sit out of), we moved on to lunch period, during which I tried to make some more small talk with Konstantin.

He revealed that, prior to getting abducted and sent here, he had been planning to go to college in Austin, Texas. It was during a traffic jam the previous day that he had gotten out to try to get his vehicle moving that he had come across a Cornerian tank. An owl shooting arrows had been the one to administer the tranquilizer dart.

"That'd be Mrs. Hooter, the archery teacher here" I said.

I vaguely remembered her being absent yesterday, but it honestly had not concerned me too much due to being banned from archery.

"Yes, that was the one" Konstantin said. He banged his fist on the table, saying "I hate this place" over and over again. Thankfully, he wasn't saying it too loudly, or else he would have drawn a not insignificant amount of attention to himself.

After lunch, we showed Konstantin up to his new dorm room, which was going to be the same as ours, number 37405.

"I feel like a prisoner here" Konstantin said. "This room number really is appropriate. It's like that song by Tim McGraw, Number 37405".

I remembered that song. It's about a guy who drives drunk after a party, hitting and killing an innocent man. He gets fifteen years in prison. It's a very sad song.

"I get it" I said. "But you get used to it".

"I just really love America, and now they have taken it away from me. With that one shot of the tranquilizer dart, my life was stolen".

I didn't know how I could respond to that. So I just showed him around the room before we headed to our afternoon classes.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

It was a relatively uneventful day for me. Lucas had now been cleared to start attending some of his classes again, so I frankly had become a little less worried about the state of his health. He seemed to be healing well.

On the other hand, I had now been outed as his girlfriend. I had been receiving a lot of attention for that, some good and some bad. Really, though, it wasn't anything that I was too unfamiliar with. Lots of couples were at high school back in Swanville, which wasn't a pleasant thought given that I was unlikely to ever see Swanville again.

This had started to become normal for me, but I once again met up with Lucas during shower hour in the dining hall. He was looking as good as usual in his purple and turquoise uniform, but there was a small stain of spaghetti sauce on the part above his left breast. I decided not to mention that.

"Hey, Lucas" I said.

Lucas noticed me almost immediately, and his face lit up. I could tell that he was happy to see me once again.

"Is there anything in particular you want to talk about, Willow?" he asked me.

He took my hand in his, and I realized that, right now, we were as close to each other as we had ever been since the dance. Even though it had only been a month ago, it felt like several lifetimes. So much had changed since then, so little still was the same.

I made sure that nobody else was around before I decided to speak my mind. It was risky, because any student or staff member would be free to come in right now, and then we would be _busted,_ good and proper. There would be no way we could keep it a secret then.

"I want to sneak out at night again" I said. There. I'd said it.

I saw the shocked look on his face. "You want to do that _again_?" he asked me. Clearly, he must have thought I was absolutely mental for suggesting that.

"I just thought-" I said. I had a sinking feeling that this would evolve into yet another argument, another fight between the two of us.

"You got a detention last time, and you told me _yourself_ that it was the most horrible thing ever".

"It's not just me. You'd go, too".

His face turned from "slightly shocked" to "about to faint". Luckily for both of us, he grabbed a chair. Clearly, he was not about to break the rules like that.

"You are expecting me to go with you? Where would we go, and how would we avoid getting caught?"

"Don't be so loud, Lucas!"

"Sorry, Willow" he said, dropping his arms. Then, in a more relaxed tone, he said, "But seriously, what would we do?"

"Maybe go on the roof" I said. "We could look for shooting stars, relax under the night sky. What sounds more romantic than that?"

"I can just _know_ that this is going to go wrong" Lucas said. Ever the pessimist.

"Well, I can handle another detention. Besides, I've learned from my mistakes. _Don't_ eavesdrop outside the staff room. It's that simple".

" _When_ would we do this, now?" he asked me.

"You seem so obsessed with the 'wh' questions" I said, giggling.

"That's just because they're things that I need to know before we do something so risky" he responded.

"I guess...three nights from now. Does that work for you?"

"Are you serious about this, Willow? We'll be running a lot of risks. Do you really want to take them, given that we have so much to lose?"

"The way I see it, I just really need some time with you. You can accept that, can't you?" I asked.

Lucas still seemed critical of the idea, but he nodded.

And so, it was settled. Three nights from now, we would sneak onto the roof in order to hang out.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

On Saturday, January 17, I found myself in a class with Lucas and Willow after lunch. In Mathematics, we were supposed to be working on some algebra problems, but the three of us had already finished them. Therefore, the teacher, Mr. Reynolds (a frog) said that we could talk to each other quietly, so as not to distract others from their work.

"I have to tell you guys something" I said, as we sat down at the table.

I had been considering telling this story for a while, but the opportunity had never come up. The three of us were never really alone together, so it wasn't going to be an option during those times.

Now, though, I saw a golden opportunity. It had walked right in the room, and I was determined to capitalize on it. I might be able to get closer with Lucas and his girl if I told them this little slice of my past.

"What is it?" Lucas asked.

I smiled, but it wasn't a happy one.

"It's kind of a funny story at first, but I want to tell you the story about the wasp nest. I find it to be a very interesting one that I thought you would enjoy. Would you care to hear it?"

Willow and Lucas both nodded.

And so, I decided to tell the story very quietly so that the other students in the room would not hear it. This is what I told them.

* * *

 **THE WASP NEST**

 **BY COLE MCCALLEN**

A year after the dare that had gotten me into stealing, I was still on a role. I got more detentions and in-school suspensions than I care to remember, and I generally had a reputation as one of the "bad kids" at my middle school. This was only exemplified by the fact that, when I heard rumors of what I had done, that made me angrier, which led to me stealing more stuff, which led me into more trouble,

It was a spider web of spiral causality.

My adoptive parents, while they did have a higher tolerance for my actions than most people, wanted to make sure not to enable me. There was only a certain amount of my bad behavior that they could take. Therefore, in the summer before my seventh grade year, they decided to send me to a summer camp in order to keep me out of trouble.

It was four and a half hours of driving to get there, and the entire time I felt guilty. My parents were sending me here in order to keep me out of trouble. This didn't make me feel good about my actions, to say the very least.

The camp was called Camp Red Lake, but it wasn't like Camp Green Lake. It was located in Leelanau County, on the complete opposite end of the Mitten, the lower peninsula of Michigan. It was a camp for "bad kids" like myself, and the counselors were specially trained to help the kleptomaniacs and the other kids with mental health problems.

I knew that I would be homesick, but I decided to go along with their plan. As I have told you before, I did not particularly like staying at home for too long, because then I would get bored and tempted to get in another hometown jam. I liked committing crimes, but didn't at the same time. I know. I'm complicated like that.

In any case, this camp had a long beach on Lake Michigan, as well as a pool and a ropes course that I never got to go on.

I met my cabinmates, who were pretty cool. We were all twelve or thirteen years old, since we were going into grade 7. Already we had been pegged as juvenile delinquents, so we had a lot in common.

Our counselors were very annoying with the seemingly excessive list of rules they forced upon us. It got to the point that me and my friends decided to pull a prank on the counselors.

* * *

On the fifth day there, when I had still not gotten to do Ropes, my friends and I came up with an idea. We managed to get down a wasp nest from a tree just outside our cabin. Since I was very afraid of wasps (and still am, due to another thing in this story), another guy carried it into our cabin.

We placed the nest underneath the counselor's bed. In my 12-year-old mind, I didn't know why this made sense, I don't know how I thought this would work, but it was what we did.

Well, the counselor, whose name was Adam, lay down on his bed when it was time for curfew and eventually went to sleep. Beforehand, however, he had been complaining of a buzzing noise underneath his bed, and was wondering what it was. In my mind, I was absolutely _cracking up_ at how stupid Adam was for not guessing that there were wasps underneath his bed.

The buzzing was a little unnerving, but we all managed to get to sleep. It was only a little after two in the morning that things got _real._

* * *

At exactly 2:07 AM, the next exploded. I'm not exaggerating. There was the sound of something akin to an egg cracking, and then the noise of wasps flying _everywhere._ This made me panic a little inside, but I tried to stay levelheaded. After all, we all knew the prank, and all of us would wake up in time.

Adam was woken up by this as well. Maybe his ass might have gotten stabbed a little bit by a shard of the hive, but he sure got up quickly. I heard his gasp of pain as a hornet stung him, and then another. Luckily, only those two had identified him, and the rest were gunning for the eight of us boys.

I panicked once again, but Adam was pissed. "What kind of _imbecile_ did this?" he spat out.

I felt one sting my calf, another my thigh, a couple more on my stomach, and all over my body the stings kept on coming. It was some of the most physical pain I have ever had.

Long story short, we managed to contain all of the wasps, but then I began to feel somewhat dizzy. I also noticed that my body was starting to feel like it was swelling up, and I had a hard time swallowing. I could barely breathe, eventually.

When Adam asked me what was wrong, I described him the symptoms I just explained and he _freaked out._ He took me over to the nurse's cabin, where she tried to give me some Benadryl.

Well, that didn't work out too well. The pressure in my throat was far too great, and I threw up all over Mrs. Kelley's desk, which I supposed was not the kindest thing for me to do. But I just couldn't keep it down.

And so, I was evacuated from the camp and taken to the nearest emergency room, where I was pumped full of antihistamines in order to save my life. And then, I also got expelled from the camp. The counselors were far less sympathetic than the nurses, to put it lightly.

I was sent back home to Christine and Paul McCallen, my adoptive parents. And they were not happy with me either. They constantly berated me for being so fucking stupid and naughty in order to _put a wasp nest underneath my counselor's bed._ That was something different.

* * *

That all happened in 201U. Now, in 201Y, I had the attention of Lucas and Willow, but I was pleased to discover that none of our other classmates seemed to have been listening in. That was a good thing, because I saw this story as pretty personal.

"Wow, you used to be a really bad kid" Lucas said. He said it in a tone that might imply that he thought that it was cool to be a "bad kid".

"Lucas!" Willow chided her boyfriend.

The math teacher came over to us. "Is there an argument that you need me to mediate in?" she asked us.

"No" I said.

"Good" the teacher said, before leaving. That really had been a close call.

I left math class that day feeling that, if nothing else, I had potentially gained the trust of Willow and Lucas. That was huge, because I wanted the new guy, Konstantin, to realize that it wasn't going to be easy to rebel against this system. It was working well for us thus far, and there was no reason to believe that it would not continue to do so.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

I was having a hard time adjusting to life at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, to say the least. It was very difficult to make friends, and when coupled with the fact that I hated the whole system that had sent me here, I began to resent my new life. Yeah, the food was excellent, but it was only a small distraction from everything that was sucking.

This really came to a head on the second evening that I was there. I was supposed to make a speech about how much I was enjoying my new home here. This was a new tradition for the new year of 201Y, so I was expected to contribute to it.

I planned, in my head, that I would sing the oh-so-patriotic song "Born In The U.S.A." by Bruce Springsteen. I was later told that it wasn't actually a patriotic song, but rather an unpatriotic song about returning home from the Vietnam War. When that happened, I was very embarrassed, because this song had been played at the Fourth Of July a lot where I grew up.

When it was my turn to give me speech, I walked up to the podium. The others were probably expecting something big, some open admiration for the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. They'd probably expect me to laud the place for treating me so awesomely.

However, they were in for a rude awakening.

I had selected the song, and so I was committed. When I was asked to stand up, I began belting out the lyrics.

The audience seemed shocked. Really, I would have been pretty surprised if I had been in that group expecting me to talk about how the Cornerian army had rescued me from a boring life of college and work in Texas. Especially since I would later learn that this wasn't the happy song that it sounds like.

As I later learned, during the Vietnam War, for young physically fit men who had been charged with more minor crimes, you could choose to either go to jail or go serve in the military in Vietnam. To be honest, if you know these lyrics it should be impossible to think of this as a patriotic song, but I digressed in this case. It was kind of how I felt right now, anyway.

Now, the people who were in charge could definitely tell that something was not going as planned. Katt and Bill were chatting with each other, as if they were trying to collectively figure out what to do with me. I was a little worried about this, but I decided that the best thing to do would be to keep singing.

Now, Katt was coming for me. I could tell that she was making her way towards me with a purpose, and there was no way now that I wouldn't get in trouble. I took the chance, however, to lift my middle finger and flip off the Cornerian flag.

As soon as I had finished the last line, Katt grabbed my wrist and started leading me towards her office.

* * *

I could tell that Katt was pissed with me for hijacking the speech, but it wasn't as though she hadn't earned it in my eyes. In my honest opinion, _all_ of the staff had earned it for making me come here against my will.

Katt sat me down in a chair across from her desk. Her dark blue eyes looked straight into my soul, and I knew that I was in serious trouble.

" _Why_ did you do that? Why would you hijack your acceptance speech with Bruce Springsteen lyrics, and then flip off the Cornerian flag? What's wrong with you?"

"Because I'm _pissed_ that you guys decided that it would be okay to rip my life away from me. I'd gotten into the University Of Texas at Austin, and I was _really_ looking forward to going. And now, you've made that impossible. You fucking _earned_ it".

"Konstantin Brockenbough, please do not swear in front of me!" Katt yelled. She grabbed my arm in order to get my attention again.

"Konstantin, you do realize that 'Born in the U.S.A." is _not_ a patriotic song at all, right?"

I stopped short. I never would have considered that possibility.

"But, really, it doesn't matter how patriotic, or otherwise, the song happens to be. No matter what, you're going to get a detention. You understand the consequences of your actions, don't you?"

"Yes" I said, because it was true.

But, as I was walking out of the office, I had a grin on my face.

I would get these people back.

* * *

 **Cole's allergic reaction to the wasp stings is not too dissimilar to the time I got bear sprayed in Grand Teton National Park. In that case, I didn't need to go to the hospital, I just went on over to the medical cabin where they decided that they didn't have to make me throw up. At first, my eyes and mouth felt like I'd just eaten tons of pollen, or whatever my spring allergies are (I have too many to count), but my mom exploded at that guy whose can went off. This also happened when I was 12.**

 **As to the lyrics, you know that I'm one to insert lyrics into my stories, simply because I love music. All those things about the meaning of the song are true. My mother loves Bruce Springsteen, talking about how his songs are often about the plight of the "working man". I hate New Jersey despite having never been there myself, but I can tell that my parents appreciate it. But that's kind of off-topic.**

 **Finally, I only have three chapters left to write. The whole thing will be 18 chapters, meaning that the last update should be January 28. At the time of writing this, I have pretty much the outline for the last three chapters complete, and all that's left is to write them!**


	13. Falco's Too Sexy

**osmicsafe74 asks: Can you upgrade the Arwings?**

 **SnowLucario answers: I don't know. I think that they could, potentially. Maybe they will be.**

 **My profile reached 2,000 views!**

 **A decent length, at well over five thousand words, I should think. I hope you find this chapter very interesting.**

 **Also, when I finish writing this, I will begin a collection of Percy Jackson one-shots that will be archived here. I will take prompts through PM, and sickfics are greatly preferred. This really will be more of a side project, because I intend to write a sequel to Wing And A Scare. You will know when this begins if you are following me.**

 **As for when...I'm done with all but the last chapter. But the last chapter will take a while, due to its likely length. On Friday, I blew an opportunity to write when I was undergoing a 3-hour test at the hospital. I would easily have been able to had I brought my new laptop that I got for Christmas, since the hospital does have Wi-Fi. I decided not to, though, because I have severe OCD and would not want to get sick from someone at the hospital. As to why I was there...if you PM me I might tell you.**

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

It had been three days and three nights since Konstantin's random outburst at his welcoming ceremony. He'd sung "Born In The U.S.A.", and expected it to earn him a spot in the good graces of the Cornerians.

In my opinion, that was pretty idiotic. I had heard that he was going to receive a detention as a result of his actions, and I knew that if we got caught doing what we were doing right now, Lucas and I were also going to face a detention.

Right now, I was sitting with Lucas under the stars. It was so beautiful, and I loved his face so much, that it was hard to imagine anything other than a happy ending for us. The wind was cold, but I didn't care. We were with each other, and there was nobody to interrupt us, at least in this one moment. We were holding hands the whole time, just appreciating the raw beauty.

"You know", Lucas said, "I wouldn't expect to see as many stars as this in such a futuristic city planet. I guess that the Cornerians must have cleaner technology".

"I know" I said.

It was well past midnight according to my watch. In the morning, Lucas would be allowed to go to Aquatics again, the first physical class he would be allowed to participate in since his incident on the mountain. It was hard to believe that it had only been a week since then. So much had changed.

"You know, when I look up at those stars, I feel like we're gonna get it. Get it together".

Lucas snorted. "You mean that song by Coldplay? Up & Up?"

"How did you know that?" I asked, looking at him.

"Dude, my dad fucking _loves_ Coldplay. He owns every album, and I just wish that-".

He didn't need to finish the sentence. I agreed with him to the point that I wasn't even annoyed by him using a swear word. We _all_ resented our parent's decisions to sell us here.

"I'm your family now, Lucas" I said. "You can take me or leave me, but I _am_ the closest thing you have".

"I'm not breaking up with you anytime soon, Willow Foster. I can definitely see a future between us. I might have Asperger's, but we are going to make this thing work. And we are going to kick some Anglar ass while we're at it".

I laughed a little at the nonchalant way Lucas had said that. I loved how he was able to inject some humor into our current situation on the war, however dire it might be.

We continued sitting there, not saying anything, until Lucas pulled me into a hug. I saw no reason to protest, so I allowed him to cuddle me on the roof. It didn't feel like he was taking over me or anything, so I welcomed it. It was nice to be embraced by someone for the first time in over a month.

"Lucas, please tell me that you will _never_ do another mission like that again".

Lucas looked at me seriously. "If people's lives are at stake, I feel that I have a moral obligation to. Besides, I don't want to just spend all of my time here. So what if I end up in the hospital wing hooked up to an IV, or dead? At least I got that adventure in, you know?"

"You're clearly braver than me, Lucas" I said.

"I'm not perfect, though" he said. "For instance, in social situations I can often talk very much about my own interests. It's not a very good quality of mine, is it?"

"No, it isn't, but I can help you work through it, can't I?" I asked him.

"Maybe sometime, some other day. Right now, I just want to appreciate this night. It might be the last one in a while. Truth be told, I think that it's too risky to do this routinely".

"I agree" I told him. "That's why I think that it's important to enjoy right now as much as possible. Hopefully, we won't get caught".

* * *

Luckily, we didn't get caught. I managed to reach my dormitory and creep in there without waking up any of the other girls. I put on my nightshirt before getting into bed.

However, sleep was a long way off. It was hard for me not to be borderline euphoric about tonight, and how it was one of the best nights I had had ever since coming here. I was just grateful to have been given the opportunity.

When your boyfriend almost died a week ago, you really do rethink your priorities.

I pondered this even more as, after what must have been two hours of tossing and turning, I fell asleep.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

The next morning, I woke up, having gotten only five hours of sleep. Normally, I got at least seven, so I would be operating on a two-hour sleep deficit. I could only hope that there were no outward signs of this, because if there were my goose might be cooked.

I went down to breakfast with my roommates, which now included Konstantin. Ever since he had started here, he had gotten more and more withdrawn and sullen. This wasn't surprising, given what we knew already about his hatred of the place. I mean, flipping off the Cornerian flag is quite a gesture!

Breakfast on the morning of January 19, 201Y was a veritable buffet once again. I didn't know what it was celebrating, but I was glad nonetheless. Fruit salad, bagels, waffles, pastries, muffins, bacon, sausages, fruit juice...it was all there. I was definitely glad to be a part of this.

I could tell that Konstantin was thinking about his upcoming detention, which said something considering that I have a hard time picking up on what other people are thinking on occasion. That is just what I am like.

He didn't seem worried or angry about it. On the contrary, he seemed to be looking forward to it. I didn't know how I would be able to tell that, but it was just what I picked up on.

After breakfast, we returned to clean up our dorm room, which I had to admit was pretty messy. I wouldn't have wanted to live there myself if it was not going to be cleaned up. For someone who hates doing his household chores, that is also saying something.

But today, I wasn't too pissed off at the amount of cleaning I had to do. Reason being, there was another big thing that was going on today.

* * *

My first class was Aquatics, and it was the first day that I was allowed to take part in any physical classes since the mission. I was most certainly looking forward to it, because I wanted to prove that the avalanche had not turned me into an invalid.

Once we were there, the instructor helped me to perfect my front crawl. I could remember any number of lifeguards trying to help teach me this stroke better.

While it is helpful in order to swim faster, I never saw the point of learning such specific and fancy strokes. Isn't it just important to be able to swim well enough to keep yourself and others alive? Apparently not, as I would soon learn.

After this, we were going to move onto the next thing, something that, as I had seen on _Surviving The Cut,_ was used in training for Marine Recon forces. It was called drown-proofing, and it's about as fun as it sounds.

"All right, class" the instructor said. "I know it doesn't sound that fun, but you're going to need it for some situations in the future, in all probability. You knew what you were getting into when you signed up for this".

I could barely keep myself from gasping. That was one of the most dishonest things I had ever heard anyone say. Wouldn't the instructor be aware of the fact that none of us had _ever_ elected to go here? Rather, she was acting like we had just made the decision to serve in the military of a fictional planet in an alternate dimension, and we should have known that.

Well, obviously we _hadn't,_ but the instructor was either in denial or deliberately lying to us.

In any case, we were each made to swim twenty-five yards underwater to the other side of one of the smaller pools, which was not something that I had ever done before. Like I've said, I'm not good at holding my breath underwater for an extended period of time. For whatever reason, I simply do not have the lung capacity required.

"Well, class, it should be no problem. It's mind over matter. As long as you don't mind, it doesn't matter".

Except that it _wasn't_ simply a case of mind over matter for many of those people.

* * *

I was the first one to dive underwater in order to do my length of the smaller pool. I used my breaststroke, trying to make sure that my legs stayed below the surface of the water (any contact with the surface would disqualify me).

In the end, I managed to touch the other end of the pool and resurface without any trouble. It wasn't like nobody else had problems, though. Will actually lost consciousness at the bottom of the pool, and he had to be resuscitated by the instructor. After that, he was taken over to the infirmary, where he would stay overnight.

Overall, though, our group did pretty well, and I was pleased. I had managed to reintegrate myself into this group after several weeks of not being part of it.

I was going to be able to get back with the classes, hopefully.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

The day the black boy, Will, returned from the infirmary was also the day on which I was supposed to serve my detention. I had considered, as a "fuck you" to them, not showing up, but I knew that would only get me another detention. I didn't want to do that, as much as I might hate these people.

And so, I was going to go and serve my detention, just like I had earned.

At 8:00, after the evening meeting, I walked down to Katt's office, which was pointed out with magenta arrows, similar to the red Swiss crosses that led the way to the medical area. I had a feeling that I would not like what waited for me there. And, sure enough, I was not disappointed.

When I got there, Katt was staring right into my soul with those crazy indigo eyes. She looked like she was going to enjoy punishing me, and that strengthened my resolve that, no matter what she did, I would _never_ give her the satisfaction of knowing that she managed to break me or whatever. She was not going to get the slightest hint that she was affecting me. This, I was determined about.

"Good evening, _Konstantin"_ she said in a voice reminiscent of Dolores Umbridge when she is making Harry write with the Blood Quill. I knew that what was in store for me was going to be painful.

As it turned out, it was only going to be mentally painful, not physically painful. But I would not have been surprised if she had had a Blood Quill, with just how toxic her expression looked.

"Good evening, Katt" I said.

She dropped a stack of papers in front of me.

"This", she said, "is a stack of letters from...others, that I wish you to sort out for me. You need to sort them out in alphabetical order, based on the names of the people who sent them to me. You'll have a pile of each letter from A to Z, and you then need to put them in alphabetical order within the piles. Then, put them all in order, and move onto the next set. You wouldn't _believe_ how much paperwork is involved in this biz".

The stack of papers must have been a foot tall, I'm not kidding. I knew that it was going to take a while to sort out.

Looking at the clock, I hoped that Katt would only keep me for four hours, until midnight, like she was supposed to. But who could tell if she would go back on that promise if I didn't manage to finish everything by that time?

There wasn't enough space for twenty-six piles all in a row, so I made a five-by-five square with an additional spot in the upper right for the F pile. Once I had gotten that done, using Post-it notes that she provided me with, I turned my attention to the menacing pile of papers before me.

At the top, I could see the last name of the person there. I was meant to sort them according to last name, not first name, so if I came across any from my family, it would go to the B pile. Any from Lucas's family would go to the E pile. It was that simple.

This was a very quick process, really. It took me only five or so seconds to identify the last name and stick it on the specified pile. Twelve letters a minute wasn't that bad, but I still wanted to know how long I was going to be here?

"Hey, Katt?" I asked her as she was biting into a meatball sub.

"Yeah?" she said, coming up to breathe.

"How long do I have to stay here?"

She gasped. "You mean you don't want to stay here, my little kitten?"

 _That_ did it. My hands sprang up, and I ripped one of the letters in the C pile.

Katt gasped again. "Oh no, you _don't!_ Tape that back together right now, please!"

I did, and then I continued to work. It was really quite monotonous when it came down to it. See the last name, put it in its proper pile, rinse and repeat.

Every so often, Katt added a few more papers onto my stack, which I would have to sort through first before getting to the rest of them. This made the job take far longer than it needed to. She even took the clock out of the room so that I couldn't see for how long I had been working.

Finally, at what _must_ have been one in the morning, I reached the bottom of the pile, and Katt did not add any more onto it.

"Well, sugar, it's done. But that is only half the job, you realize. You still need to sort the ones in each pile".

 _Fuck._

* * *

It took me varying amounts of time to arrange each pile, but it was probably at least three or four AM by the time I had finished. Then, I simply slid the Y stack on top of the Z stack, the X on top of the Y, the W on top of the X, and so on, until all twenty-six piles had been stacked back in alphabetical order.

"Sugar, you are _finished._ With a time of seven hours, twenty-four minutes, and fifty-five seconds, you have completed your task. You may go".

I did just that, leaving Katt's magenta office without so much as a backward glance.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Konstantin never did talk about his detention to me, but I could tell that it had been something exhausting. I myself had fallen asleep easily, bushed from such a physical day, but when we all woke up for breakfast we could see that Konstantin had bags under his eyes. _What_ had he done with Katt Monroe?

For the most part, though, it was relatively forgotten. On the other hand, Konstantin just deciding to sing Bruce Springsteen in the middle of the evening meeting was not something that would get out of people's heads easily. Again, though, it would probably fade with time.

However, two mornings after Konstantin's detention, something would happen that none of us were _ever_ likely to forget.

* * *

Through the fog of sleep, I could hear a very annoying beeping sound. It was as loud as a fire alarm might be back at home...and then I realized that it _was_ a fire alarm.

Well, not a fire alarm. We had been taught that the school had an alarm system just in case it was being attacked, or there was some other problem that was facing the school and would need to be resolved immediately.

This was most likely that alarm.

As I pondered what it could be in my mind, I heard the others stir as well. Seventy-Four, who had his own bunk, was the only one not taking part in the discussion that soon ensued. He'd been isolating himself just as much, if not more, than Mike Kirk, and I could only wonder why. Maybe it had something to do with the reason he wore his gas mask all the time.

In any case, there was complete pandemonium in the dormitory.

"Lucas! Check the window!" Will yelled at me.

I leapt out of bed and to the window. I pulled the blinds back up, and what I saw was absolutely terrifying.

Three fish people were climbing up the windows. It was very clear that they were Anglars, and they must have wanted us dead. I wasn't going to let that happen, not without a fight.

"Everybody _run!"_

We were all still in our pajamas, Mike still wearing his tighty whities that he seemed to always sleep in, but that didn't matter to us. Our clothes were replaceable- our lives were not.

* * *

We got out of the dorm room and began racing down the stairs. All the way to the dining room, we didn't stop running. We didn't know if any of the Anglars had managed to breach the walls of the school, but we didn't want to risk that. None of us wanted to die. Not when we still had so much life left to live.

After going down the mustard yellow, crimson red, indigo, butterscotch orange, seafoam blue, and jungle green tunnels, we reached the hangar. Considering that I had fainted the first time I had piloted a flight simulator, I couldn't say I hadn't improved. But I still had no confidence that I would be able to fly us out of here, or indeed that _anyone_ would be able to.

Except for Katt Monroe, who had already arrived there and seemed to be waiting for us.

"What's going on?" Cole asked frantically, looking for an answer.

"The Anglar army has discovered us here. We're not safe; we'll have to pack up, go to our other place. But it's not like we can do this without the other students!"

"Why are they so dangerous?" Seventy-Four asked, which surprised all of us. He was a man of few words, so nobody had expected him to speak at a moment like this.

"The Anglars are deathly poisonous. We _do_ have antidote, but I'd rather we didn't need it. Dr. Howler is ready just in case. But we need everyone else to come down here so we can leave, and we need Falco to lead us!"

"Where is Falco?" Will asked.

"I don't know, but he's probably coming as soon as he can. You know, they have probably managed to get in through a window. We're not safe here anymore".

"You already said that" Cole pointed out.

"Look, guys, that's _not important!_ We need to see how many more students come in here, and how many might end up needing rescuing".

As soon as she had said that, a veritable _river_ of people came in through the door, flooding the room. Surely that must have been most of the rest of the school, there were so many of them.

It was a good thing there were so many ships.

* * *

"Falco's the only one who knows how to pilot our mother ship, the Great Fox. Fox himself is not here right now, so we're going to have to send someone in to find him" Katt said.

This was after pretty much everyone else was safely in the hangar. As she had said, the Great Fox was ready on the runway, but we needed Falco Lombardi in order to leave and head to the alternate location. If we didn't do that, we were fucked, essentially.

"I'm going to do it" I said, throwing my hand in the air.

"Really? I seem to remember that the last time you volunteered for a mission, you ended up unconscious under many feet of snow" she said. However, I could tell that she thought I was going to be fit to do it. Maybe she _did_ see some potential in me after all.

"Lucas! Don't!" Cole cried. "It's not worth it".

"Yes, it _is!"_ I yelled back. "Without Falco, we're all going to die. I need to get him if he's being held captive by the Anglars".

"Cool" Katt said. "Hey, Lucas, _catch!_ "

Katt threw a six-inch blade towards me like a Frisbee. I'm not the most coordinated person, so I didn't know what she was thinking. To my surprise, though, I managed to catch it.

"Sorry, Lucas. This is a knife that you might need to use on one of the Anglars. It's my favorite weapon for ground combat".

I could tell, based on Katt's flight jacket, that she was probably in a _lot_ of ground combat. It was tattered and frayed in many places, but she still wore it. Not surprising, given what I knew about her.

I turned around and bolted back into the school.

* * *

It was getting more and more crowded in the hallways, since the Anglars had evidently managed to penetrate some of the walls of the school. The people inside would no longer be safe from them.

I had no idea where Falco's office was, if that was indeed where he was being held captive, if he indeed _was_ being held captive.

After I turned a corner, I was shocked by what I heard. It was not Falco Lombardi's voice, but it was something hilarious.

The voice of Right Said Fred, a cheesy '90s British band, was playing. I tried to ascertain the direction from which it was coming, thinking that if there was music there would probably be someone listening to it.

However, when I searched around myself, I noticed that there was no way to tell. Perhaps it was one way, but I would try to go in a different direction to see if it got louder or quieter, at least from my own perspective.

I tried not to laugh as I passed by more Anglars. One took a swipe at my leg with its fish mouth, but it didn't connect. Thankfully, as I knew that pure Venomian venom (that's kind of weird to say) was not something that I wanted in my body.

The song was definitely coming from my right. However, the only available path was to go to the left. Therefore, I'd need to go to the left and then make two right turns, and then probably a third, in order to get to the source of "I'm Too Sexy". Was Falco listening to it?

It was really quite appropriate that we got to the part about doing his little turn on the catwalk, whatever that means, at this moment. This was because I was now on the catwalk that went above the med lab for the school. It looked very comprehensive, with conveyor belts and everything.

As I ran past refrigerators where medications were probably being kept cool, the song became more noticeable. I had no doubt now that I was going in the right direction.

At the end of this stanza, I came to a door that read **F. LOMBARDI.** I pulled on it, and entered.

* * *

Falco's quarters were a lot nicer than I would expect. The couch and walls were in a navy blue color with yellow, orange, and red trimming on the edges. This really fit well with his coloring similar to a tropical bird. It was similar to Katt's quarters being magenta.

There were actually rumors that the two of them were in love, with the amount that they argued with each other, but I personally didn't believe that for a second. That was just for thirteen-year-old loners who liked to write erotic fanfiction, in my honest opinion.

And, on the other side of the room...was Falco. He was wearing green boxer-briefs, and _just_ that. And...he was dancing around, like he was imagining someone next to him holding his hands.

He was dancing...to "I'm Too Sexy". Yep.

Falco definitely seemed to think that he was too sexy, as he leapt into the air and spun around like a ballet dancer. However, I didn't think he was graceful at all.

"Falco!" I said, trying to get his attention.

He was still dancing while watching Fred dance around in his mesh shirt. I wished that I could get him to see sense, but he seemed so enamored by himself, and the fact that he found the song so fucking catchy.

I couldn't manage to get him to pay any attention to me until the song was over. Only then did he seem to notice that there was anybody near him.

"Oh, hey, Lucas. What's up, I've got Rick Astley next so will you please hurry up?"

"We're being attacked by Anglars!" I shouted, because I wanted to convey the gravity of the situation to him.

 _That_ sure got his attention.

He turned to me, looking shocked. "Let's go. Do we need to evacuate the premises?"

I looked at him gravely. "Yeah. And you're the only one who can fly the Great Fox, right?"

"That is correct. We need to _go!"_

* * *

On the way back to the hangar, Falco seemed to be trying to use me as a human shield. This was pretty selfish-sounding to me, considering that I was his student and it was his _job to protect me._

Eventually, I called him out on this. Over the noise of fish people growling, I yelled, " _Why_ are you using me as a meat shield? You realize that you're the teacher here!"

"I'm _sorry_ , Lucas! You do realize that if I get bitten on the way, I'm going to pass out from the poison and you won't be strong enough to carry me. Besides, they _need_ me in order to fly the damn thing!"

We reached the mustard yellow hallway. Just five more, and we'd be in the hangar.

"Everyone else is already there" I said. "Mrs. Hooter, Dr. Howler, everyone. We've been waiting on you for _forever._ We were worried sick about all of us!"

"Well, I didn't hear the Anglars outside my room! So **excuse me**!"

After a time, I felt them nipping at my heels. Falco was managing to get a little ahead of me.

"Pick up the pace, Enfield! Personally, I prefer the air!"

We reached the seafoam blue hallway when I suddenly began to feel faint. It was something I had felt before, and it made me a little slower. Falco was still trying to keep with me, so that I no longer felt that he was using me as a meat shield.

"I feel a little dizzy, Falco!" I shouted, but it came out as a normal indoor voice. The truth sunk in, a brutal silver bullet.

As we reached the jungle green hallway, I considered it appropriate due to the poison that was no doubt coursing through my system at this very moment.

"Are you going to pass out?" Falco asked. He sounded like we were underwater. I knew then that the answer to that question was a resounding yes.

I pitched forward, but not before I felt Falco's feathery arms envelop me as he prevented me from hitting the ground. And that was that.

* * *

At least for a while.

The next thing I remember is feeling a needle exit my leg, except that it was still a little murky back then. I must have gone back to the abyss for a little bit after that.

A few minutes later, I came to again to find a very different person standing over me. It wasn't a tropical bird, it was a Bengal tiger.

 _Dr. Howler._

"Why do you have to interrupt my sleep, Dr. Howler?" I asked, trying for a joke.

She didn't seem to appreciate it. "You were fast, Lucas, but not fast enough. One of them got your leg"- she pointed to a long bandage running up the length of my left leg- "and Falco carried you into the Great Fox".

"Wow, that's embarrassing" I said.

"I injected you with the proper antidote, but the area is going to be sore for quite a few days to come. The Venomian toxin is very potent, and yet it is also very easy to counteract".

"That's good".

Dr. Howler backed away a little bit. "We're going, right now, to the backup location for the school. One of your dorm mates is...well, I don't want to say it right here. We're going to be there in about twenty minutes. How are you feeling".

"Other than a slight post-workout-like ache from my left leg, I feel like a million bucks. Let's see this new place".

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

That night, we were directed to one of the common rooms in the new location. It was really quite large and ornately decorated like one of the country clubs in the suburbs of Detroit. Not like I should know, of course, since I was an inner-city kid, but that's just what I imagined it might look like.

Considering that there were over two hundred of us in the room, it was a very tight fit. However, it did work out eventually.

When Lucas stood next to me, I saw that he had a large bandage on his left leg.

"Hey, Lucas, what happened to your leg?" I asked.

My friend rubbed his leg like it was bothering him. "I'll tell you later, but the rest of the story still needs to be told first".

Just then, Bill Grey came into the room. He ordered students who roomed together to stand with each other, so that everyone could be kept track of. Therefore, Will, Mike, and Seventy-Four were in our group. There was no sign of Konstantin.

"I bet that you are all wondering what happened today with the Anglar attack" Bill said.

There wasn't a single person who didn't nod.

"Well, our intelligence is suggesting that someone from _within_ the school ordered them to come. There was a spy there, somewhere. We don't know who it is, but we'll need to remain vigilant, because it might be in this room. Or, it might be the person we have already apprehended".

I had a sinking feeling that I knew who it was.

"Who is it, Bill?" a boy wearing a yellow shirt and blue pants asked.

Bill looked seriously at me and my group before answering.

"Konstantin Brockenbough".

* * *

 **I don't know why, but I pictured Dr. Howler as a giraffe during this chapter, even though I know she's a Bengal tiger. I imagined her as looking like that one from Animal Crossing, even though I don't even PLAY that game.**

 **This was a hilarious chapter, in my opinion. And it's pretty good in terms of length. I have an official SnowLucario playlist on my YouTube channel if you want to check it out. It's the songs I like to listen to when writing.**


	14. Altitude

**I'm done! I finished writing all 18 chapters, and have decided to not do the PJO sick fics after all. Instead, straight into the sequel. The last chapter of this will be posted January 24, because for MLK Day (for non-Americans, this is held to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.), you will get two chapters. I don't have school that day.**

 **This is another one of those transition chapters, sorry. It's a bit boring, but that's what part of the story we are at. This seriously might be the shortest non-prologue chapter in the story. In fact, it is.**

 **I now have 400,000 words on this site!**

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

Konstantin Brockenbough had been arrested on suspicion of being the one to betray the school to the Anglars.

There was plenty of circumstantial evidence to support this, to be sure. However, the fact remained that _circumstantial_ evidence was not the same as _real_ evidence. I'd been to enough juvenile court cases to know that.

Had Konstantin singing "Born In The U.S.A" been enough to put that in those people's heads? I wouldn't be surprised, and yet I _was_ shocked that this was going on.

I just really didn't expect a betrayal. I thought that the Grey Clouds Flight Academy was safe from the Anglars, and yet this attack had illustrated that this was not true at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"I have a little announcement to make about how things are going to work from here on out, now that we have moved locations. Are your ears on me?" Bill asked.

All two hundred of us nodded, and so he began.

"We are still going to have as many lessons as possible, as the importance of training to defeat the Anglars has not gone down. Quite the opposite, in fact. However, the frequency of your lessons will no doubt decline, because your safety is our top priority. Besides, it's not like we have flight simulators here, but you _will_ learn how to fly Arwings at some point".

I definitely wanted to learn how to fly an Arwing.

"As for food, we won't have access to our world-class kitchens, so we will have to make the food ourselves. Some of you will have to work to help prepare it, but we can buy whatever we need in the grocery stores in the city, and pick fruits and vegetables from the mountain orchards near here.

"Do you have any questions?" he asked us.

When we didn't ask him any, he said, "You will sleep in sleeping bags on the floors of these rooms. I'm sorry that we don't have four-posters like at the original location, but this is just what we have to work with. We're going to keep it that way until further notice".

Then, Bill left the room, and we were left to think to ourselves, and talk amongst ourselves.

This didn't last for too long, though. Bill came back in five minutes later, before any of us could really get our bearings, and ordered all of us to go to bed.

* * *

The sleeping bags were in various colors according to what our standings had been. Mine, Lucas's, Willow's, and others of the lowest rank were purple and turquoise.

They looked pretty comfortable, so I just decided that I wasn't going to protest. It had been a long, stressful day, and it had taken quite a while to get settled even though we had not been able to bring any of our belongings. They'd got sent here with us, so we could mark our territory using them.

I slept next to Lucas, who slept next to Willow, who slept next to Seventy-Four. In general, from what I could tell, former roommates slept with each other for the most part. Konstantin was noticeably absent, and the reason was no secret.

It took me a while to fall asleep, mainly because of the large numbers of unanswered questions lurking in my mind. First, and foremost, however, was the following one:

 _Did Konstantin really betray us?_

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

I hadn't intended to wake up early the next morning. I knew that our next class wasn't until eleven, and I knew that I would need some sleep in order to help heal the wound on my leg.

But it was like when we travelled to Colorado, me and my parents ( _fuck them,_ I thought). There, I often woke up at five in the morning rather than seven, simply because of the jet lag. That was due to the change in time zones.

Since yesterday had felt so long, maybe we _had_ changed a Cornerian time zone or two. On the mission that had ended so disastrously, however, I hadn't felt any time zone change.

Maybe it was just that the Great Fox was faster than the helicopter for traveling. That would have made a lot of sense.

Either way, I woke up a little before the sunrise. My left leg was still throbbing, as I had been told it would for some time. Even so, it should not be difficult for me to take part in my classes, Dr. Howler said. I was grateful for that.

I noticed Willow next to me, still sleeping peacefully. She didn't seem to be too worried about Konstantin. Or, if she was, she was better at hiding it than me.

When I stood up, I fought to catch my breath. The new school was more than seven thousand feet above the old one, so the altitude was definitely a factor. Since I had been to high elevations at various points in my life, I knew that I was unlikely to get sick if I didn't overexert myself, but someone like Cole might _suffer._ Aside from the elevation, however, the new location was absolutely beautiful.

From the mountainside, we could see many miles of plains, rivers, and lakes. From here, they looked like no more than planes. I could finally see it from this direction, and it was a far better view than it had been on the way up here for the attempt to defuse the bomb underneath the glacier. And, since I had been unconscious on the way back, I was determined to enjoy the view _now_ as much as possible.

The sleeping bag that I slept in, marked with LUCAS ZANTRY ENFIELD, was placed right below the window, so I couldn't look through it without standing up and/or turning around. It was more than the fact that I hadn't gotten to enjoy the view the first time, though. I sincerely hoped that the Anglars would not manage to reach this new locale, but I feared it was only a matter of time.

* * *

We all slept in a single room covered in two hundred sleeping bags. The staff, including Bill, Katt, Falco, Mrs. Hooter, Dr. Howler, and Slippy, all slept in a separate room whose whereabouts we were not told about. They probably feared we'd pull a slumber party prank on them, but those fears were unfounded. The mood was far too grim for that, which was really a shame considering where we were.

There was a hallway going from my room to a common room, which was where Bill had given his announcement last night. There were other hallways, we were told, to the classrooms. Apparently Aquatics would be held in a natural spring, which was a cool thing to think about in my opinion.

A dark hallway led deeper down into the mountain, where I was told Konstantin was being held. This was another thing that Dr. Howler had told me on the ride here in the Great Fox, during which she had kept watch over me to ensure that I was all right.

Based on that, the whole place looked like some rustic mountain resort. Which I guess would be nice, if that's the sort of thing you're into. For me, though, I had a hard time enjoying it, simply because it was always in the back of my mind the reason we had been forced to come here.

* * *

Breakfast was held, rather than in a special dining hall, in the common room, which seemed to be used for everything here. In addition, the food was not nearly as delicious as it was back at the original location, which was not surprising. Even so, after nearly six weeks of the best food in the universe, it was a little hard to stomach this. Hopefully, I would re-adjust to normal food quickly.

"What do you think of this new place?" I asked Willow. It was somewhat common knowledge that we were together back at the original building. Here, however, there was nowhere to hide the obvious thing that Willow and I had between us. Everyone knew we were in a relationship. Case closed.

"I don't like it that much, Lucas. I mean, _yeah,_ I love nature and all that, but it's visible from the other building" she said wistfully.

"I know what you mean, but it's not like we can just go back there. Hopefully, we'll be safe".

"Lucas?" she said, the first hint of a smile appearing on her face.

"Yeah?"

"I can understand part of why you went on the mission now" she said. "You must really love the natural beauty".

Truth be told, I'm not that much of an outdoorsy person. I always was a mosquito magnet, even when I was lathered in bug spray.

"I don't want to talk too much about that right now" I said.

I knew that she would understand. There were simply too many people around right now, too many ears to hear and get the wrong idea- or even worse, the _right_ idea, of what was going on between us. That would have to wait.

* * *

After breakfast, we didn't go back to the sleeping room in order to clean it up. Instead, we were allowed to proceed to our very first lesson, or, in the case of some people, do nothing.

There were going to be fewer lessons now, we had been told that much. The question was, how many fewer?

That remained to be seen.

My first class was Aquatics, but there was no Olympic pool that had been built in the basement. Instead, we were told, we would be taken down to a natural pool.

"Really?" Cole asked incredulously, and I felt a bit of pity for him. He might have gone to a summer camp in seventh grade, but only for a couple of days, and I didn't think there were that many lakes in the concrete jungle of Detroit.

"That's right" the swimming instructor, Amanda, said. "It's down this long stone staircase, and it's very cold, so I expect all of you to put on a drysuit".

The thing about drysuits is that they, well, _stay dry._ Actually, that's not entirely the case. You can swim underwater, completely submerge yourself, and yet your clothes will remain completely dry.

"The reason this is necessary is because the spring comes _directly_ from the glacier up on the mountain. We don't want anyone getting hypothermia or anything".

I got the feeling that Amanda was looking at me when she said that, but it might have just been a figment of my imagination.

We all descended the stone staircase, which wasn't very steep. It took a good five minutes to descend far enough to the point where we found a crystal-clear pool amid all of the semi-snowy rocks and dirt on the side of the mountain. The pool was about thirty yards long and fifteen wide, although this was slightly distorted due to the shape of the pool.

The exact details of the lesson are not very important, but it is necessary to say that we didn't do things too differently even though we were six thousand feet higher in elevation.

When we were done and Amanda dismissed us, we walked back up the mountainside to the school.

* * *

For dinner that night, we had tilapia with vegetables. It wasn't _too_ elegant of a dish, but it was also going to become the status quo now that we were in a location without a five-star kitchen like they must have had at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy.

However, the main attraction of dinner on January 22, 201Y was not the food. It was Bill Grey's speech to us.

He had told us during lunch that he had a serious announcement to make, but would wait until dinnertime for it, since he didn't want to ruin our lunch. By that logic, however, how on Earth, or Corneria for that matter, could he justify ruining our dinner?

Now was no different than he had promised us. Absent his flight helmet this time, Bill stood before us, looking very grim indeed.

"Students at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, I do have an announcement to make. It is an update with regards to our most recent student, Konstantin Brockenbough".

We all looked at each other. No matter what the news turned out to be, Willow and I had been right. Konstantin was the big deal here.

"He is currently being held in our dungeons, awaiting trial. The trial will be held a week from today. That is, January 29, 201Y. All of his former roommates will be expected to attend".

Bill took a look at his notes and said, "That would be Michael Kirk, 'Seventy-Four', Willow Foster, William Wexford, Cole McCallen, and Lucas Enfield. They will be asked to testify, as they are the ones who are the most ideally placed to spot any evidence of any unusual behavior. If convicted, Brockenbough may face life imprisonment or execution".

He cleared his throat and said, "And that is all. I will tell you more when I have more information. For now, enjoy your dinner".

Needless to say, that did _not_ help me enjoy the rest of my dinner.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

That night, I headed back to the sleeping room with Lucas and the others. Of course, the rules had been removed, so we no longer had to sleep apart from each other. The same rules about sneaking out at night would be enforced, though, so that would be a little tricky.

I didn't know if there was any way to the roof of this new place, or if we would just have to climb up the side of the mountain. Maybe Lucas could help me with that, since he had gone climbing up a glacier less than two weeks ago. I could hope, at least.

Of course, hope had not been working out well for us lately. Not only were we forced out of the original building to this new location, but one of Lucas's roommates was being held in a dungeon at this very moment, awaiting trial and possible execution. This situation had gone from bad to worse.

Now, I lay in my sleeping bag, holding Lucas's hand. I decided to whisper to him, asking a question.

"Hey, Lucas?" I asked him.

"What is it, Willow?" he asked me sleepily.

There was no point in delaying it. "I was just wondering about Konstantin".

He seemed to grow a little angry, but not at me.

"Honestly, if that fucker really did it, he _deserves_ to be punished. Maybe not executed, but definitely kept in prison for a long, long time".

"Lucas!" I gasped. "I thought you were more compassionate than that".

"Well, I'm sorry about that. Look, I still love you. I'm just...tired. And it's been a long day, and we need our sleep. Don't you get it?"

"I do" I said. "I just...well, if you want to talk about it in the morning?"

Lucas nodded as he kept holding my hand. Eventually, I felt his grip loosen, signaling to me that he had finally fallen asleep.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

At the same time that Lucas and Willow were having their sleeping-bag conversation, I was languishing in a dank dungeon.

The walls were very dark, and my fleshy legs could _definitely_ feel the chains on them. I was reminded of that song from that _Phineas and Ferb_ episode where Candace busts them and they get sent to a military school. Except, I quite literally _did_ have these chains on me.

All for something that they thought I _might_ have done! I mean, really?

 **Really?**

Apparently, that was enough reason for them to lock me up in here. I hadn't even betrayed the school to the Anglars, I didn't know who had, but until they did find out there shouldn't have been any reason to punish me like this.

If I had hated them before, I genuinely resented them even more now. I regretted singing "Born In The U.S.A." even less, which is to say that I was _very_ glad I had flipped the bird towards the Cornerian flag.

The only question was...I was going to be tried. Would there be enough evidence to rule me guilty? Might I get _executed?_

I supposed that I would find out in a week.

* * *

 **Again, VERY short chapter, but it is a transition one. The next chapter is going to be the trial, so place your bets on whether or not Konstantin will be found guilty!**


	15. The Trial

**We have hit 30 reviews!**

 **I seem to have picked up two new guest reviewers. "FernLucario" and "G-ma" might help me get to 50.**

 **This was a tough chapter to write, mainly because I had to look up the backstories of all these characters, and come up with some. Also, I wrote part of this at the Hotel Jay in northern Vermont, which does not have the world's best Internet. Seriously, it was blizzarding there the whole time and I didn't have much fun skiing. You'd think with a name like SNOWLucario, I'd be able to weather this weather well, but not really.**

 **I've never been to court before (what, you think I'm the kind of guy who gets in trouble with the law all the time?). I might have pictured it like an American courtroom you would see nowadays on TV, but it would probably be either more futuristic or more like an old church building. Or, as it is described in the chapter.**

 **Also, I was going to give Dr. Howler a first name, but I decided that naming her something like Dr. Olivia Howler would COMPLETELY change the way I thought of her. So, she's just Dr. Howler.**

 **Finally, I know that in real life there would be a filibuster here, but that's not how this court works. Just a simple majority of seven can convict a defendant.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

The next morning, we were supposed to attend the court. We were going to observe Konstantin's trial, to see if he was found guilty or not. We ourselves were not on the jury, so we would not be allowed to directly address the members of the court. However, we would be permitted to quietly talk to each other. If we did that, we would be severely punished, we were told.

After eating breakfast, we were shown the way to the courtroom. As has been said before, only the students who used to sleep in room 37405, as well as Willow, were going. This was because we were considered the most likely to know what might have happened with Konstantin, in order to make him betray the school to the Anglars, or even if he had done that at all.

We were led down the underground path, until the walls began to turn into dark stone. Only a dim light shone from the fixtures on the sides, and that definitely added to the vibe about how Konstantin might be put to death if found guilty.

It felt like we were going directly into the middle of Corneria, which we kind of were. We must have descended the equivalent of fifty flights of stairs before we reached a large set of double doors. After so long of just rock, it was _very_ unusual to see two ornately carved crimson doors into the not-quite-black rock.

The person who was escorting us, which happened to be Mrs. Hooter, the same person who had administered the tranquilizer in order to capture Konstantin and send him here, said, "This is completely soundproof, because we are more than five hundred feet below even the spring used for Aquatics. I wish that you do not divulge anything you witness or say in here, do you understand?"

I nodded. So did Willow, Cole, Will, Mike, and Seventy-Four. She had made clear enough the gravity of the trial that we were about to witness. And to think that she wasn't holding her crossbow today!

"I'm still feeling the effects of the altitude a little" Cole said.

"In what way?" Mrs. Hooter asked, clearly not pleased with my friend.

"Well, I'm from Michigan originally, and that's a very flat state. I'm kind of out of breath right now, aren't we seven thousand feet above the original academy?"

Mrs. Hooter nodded. "Well, I'm sorry, McCallen, but you'll just have to watch the trial in its entirety. Dr. Howler will be there just in case; she's a witness".

"She is?" I asked in disbelief.

"She was waiting on hand for anyone who would need antivenom when the Anglars came" Mrs. Hooter explained, which answered my question.

I then turned to Cole. "Why should you be worried about the altitude? It was _at least_ this high when you dug me out of that avalanche".

"That was different. We had high-tech tools for getting the ice out of the way. Here, we only have our own legs".

"Are you guys ready to enter the courtroom?" Willow asked impatiently. Way to let your girlfriend scold you for having side conversations.

"Yeah" Cole said.

And then, we pushed open the crimson doors.

* * *

The courtroom was surprisingly ornate, even though we were so far underground. It looked like a medieval church building, except there was no religious artwork. Instead, tiles in every color you could imagine were scattered throughout the place, while unpolished stone made up much of the rest of it. Skulls were staring down at the defendant's chair from the ceiling. Clearly, this was a room designed to intimidate.

In the middle of it was a large chair that Konstantin Brockenbough was sitting in. A cage of metal grates was surrounding him, and it looked much like the scene in the Harry Potter movie where Igor Karkaroff is giving the Ministry Of Magic names of other Death Eaters in exchange for being released from Azkaban. Chains bound his legs to the floor, and his arms were shackled to a bar a little above his head. I didn't know how long this trial was going to last, but that could not have been comfortable for any length of time.

"The accused is present, as is the jury and all witnesses. With that, it is time to begin".

This was said by a very deep voice coming from the front of the room. I couldn't see where it was coming from, until I realized that it must have been a hologram. And then, I saw it.

The face of what appeared to be Fox McCloud with sunglasses was, in a cyan color, hanging in hologram form from a dais in the corner of the room, in front of the jury. I realized that this must have been James McCloud, Fox's father, who died fighting the evil scientist Andross in the first Lylat War.

Who _knew_ what technology they might have been able to use here?

"This looks like something from Harry Potter!" Will whispered slightly too loudly to be called a whisper.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology can be indistinguishable from magic" Mike said. "Haven't you read any Arthur C. Clarke?"

"No" Will said.

" _Shhhhhhh_ " Mrs. Hooter chided him. "It's time".

* * *

"I am James McCloud, the judge in this trial. We have the twelve members of the jury here, as well as the eight witnesses. Six of them are standing before me. They are Cole McCallen, Lucas Enfield, Michael Kirk, 'Seventy-Four', William Wexford, and Willow Foster. They will all swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We also have Dr. Howler and Wolf O'Donnell as witnesses. Each of you will tell your stories, and anything you may know that could be pertinent to the case. And take your time; we're in no hurry".

I wasn't so sure about that. Konstantin already looked uncomfortable, and I wondered why such a scientifically advanced society would need to use such torture methods as this. Wouldn't they think there were more humane methods they should use first?

"The accused is one Konstantin Brockenbough. The charges against him are as follows" James said, clearing his throat.

"That he did knowingly, deliberately, and in full awareness of the consequences of his actions, sell information about the location of the Grey Clouds Flight Academy to the Anglar army, causing them to invade and destroy the school. This could have resulted in the deaths of any and all of the students and faculty of the academy, and Brockenbough faces the death penalty if he is convicted".

James then looked over at Konstantin. "Do you deny said charges?"

"I'm afraid I must" Konstantin said. "Reason being, I did not do any of those things".

One of the jurors snorted. "As if that means _anything_ coming from the mouth of the accused!" she said.

James banged his ghostly gavel. "It's time for our first witness to testify. Mr. Cole McCallen is up".

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

I walked up to the witness box, and Wolf pulled a lever. "This will increase the sound of your voice, so that it may be heard throughout the room. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" he said.

I put my hand on the tablet Wolf handed to me. "What's this?" I asked him.

"In the human dimension, in your puny country known as the _United States,_ they-".

"Come on!" Konstantin said angrily from his chair. "I grew up there!"

I wanted to shush him up. Outbursts were not going to help his case. In fact, they were likely to do the opposite.

"Anyway", Wolf said, clearing his throat, "they have you swear on the Bible in America. In the interest of having a secular government here, though, we don't swear on any religious texts here. Instead, you just swear on the iPad 225, because that is how most of us gather our guidance, from the Internet".

"I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" I said.

"Okay" James said. "Now, Mr. McCallen, how about you tell your story?"

This is the story that I told him:

* * *

 _Cole grew up in Michigan, in Detroit to be more specific. It wasn't easy being a scared white boy in a black neighborhood, but that's beside the point. He was born to Lauren and Curtis, but for whatever reason they decided that they did not to take care of him anymore once he reached the age of five._

 _Part of this may have been due to the fact that he was already demonstrating naughty qualities at such an early age, such as stealing toys from other toddlers. Whatever theory you choose to believe, this is the truth._

 _He was adopted by Christine and Paul McCallen, who proved to be far more tolerant parents of Cole's ways. However, they could only tolerate so much of his behavior. From eleven onwards, he started getting in more serious trouble, including vandalizing buildings. He and his friends occasionally had run-ins with the police, but he was never charged with any official crimes._

 _At one point, his adoptive parents decided to send him to a summer camp in the northern part of the state, in order to hopefully curb some of his delinquent tendencies. However, a few nights into the program, he pulled off one of his biggest stunts yet by working with his friends to put a wasp nest underneath the counselor's bed. This was a very dangerous thing, and he got in so much trouble that he was kicked out of the camp and sent back to his parents, who were_ very _unhappy with him._

 _Over the next four years, Cole got into more and more trouble with the law, to the point that they decided to give him an ultimatum: either he could go to jail and stand trial (because he was sixteen now, and old enough to stand trial due to the amount of offenses he had committed), or he could go serve in the military in Corneria. Since he loved video games, he jumped at the opportunity to do it. As much as he loved his parents, he wanted to help someone else._

* * *

"The last question is" ,said James, "do you know anything with regards to the Anglar invasion of the school?"

"No" I said. "I don't know any more about it than you do".

"That is all very well and good. But now, it is time to move on to our next witness. Will William Wexford please take to the witness box?"

* * *

Will took the oath, and then he sat down in his chair in order to tell his story. The others did, too, and I managed to catch on to a common theme that was going on with these stories.

All of them seemed to have lived a fairly normal life at home, even if there were a few social problems or family issues present. However, either their parents had sold them to the school, or, in my case, they had elected to go on purpose because they didn't like the alternative that had been offered.

Finally, it was Willow's turn to tell her story. She went up to the witness's chair, and I saw her tell her story.

* * *

 _Willow grew up in Swanville, Maine, a small town in interior Waldo County, located in the central part of the state. She had a very interesting childhood, to say the least. While she did not get in_ nearly _as much trouble as Cole, there wasn't a single person who was completely innocent as a child. But that's beside the point._

 _Even though Willow was an illegitimate child, born before her parents were married, her parents still loved her and treated her like a true daughter. Her mother still waited a decade to have any other children, exhausted from having a child._

 _She grew up with a younger half-sister named Olive, who was eleven years younger than her, and a younger half-brother named August, who was thirteen years younger than her. She was more close with Olive, mainly because they were a little bit closer in terms of age._

 _When she was only one year old, Willow's father, who was ten years older than her mother, died. Mrs. Foster was quick to remarry to a man named Kyle. Kyle was a loving stepfather, but he was often stricter then Willow's mother, which led Willow to have mixed feelings about him. Even so, she did love her family, and would never have dreamed that they would have sold her to the school._

 ** _(Willow did not know this at the time)_**

 _However, when her family fell on hard times, Kyle was approached with an offer. He could sell his oldest stepdaughter to a military academy for $5,000,000 and keep the rest of his family safe, or he could allow everyone but Willow, including himself, to be imprisoned in Corneria for noncompliance. He didn't lose too much sleep over the decision to sell one of his stepchildren in order to protect himself, his wife, and the two younger children._

 _Once Willow had gotten shot with a tranquilizer dart and loaded onto the helicopter, the five million dollars had been wired to the Foster family's bank account, and they were now multimillionaires, just like that. They loved their children, but they loved money even more, not having enough for much of the time._

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

"That's kind of a sad life story, Miss Foster" said James. "I must ask you, much like the others...did you see any evidence that Konstantin Brockenbough did betray the location of the Grey Clouds Flight Academy to the Anglar army? Please answer honestly".

Willow looked straight up at the hologram of the deceased vulpine. "I did not" she said.

"Very well, then" James said. "And it is now time to move onto our sixth witness. Lucas Enfield is your name, correct?"

I jumped at the sound of my name. I knew that he wanted to hear everything about me, and I wondered how the others could have been so brave as to spill what basically amounted to their entire life stories.

And yet, I realized that there was no way that I would be able to get out of this. Not if I wanted to keep my self-respect, and the respect of my friends.

Okay. Here goes.

* * *

"I was born in 200R in Maine. More specifically, I grew up in Swanville, the same town as Willow. We were students at high school together until...you know. We were kind of dating, but not really. The truth is, we were actually at a holiday ball at the JCC in Swanville on the night that we were captured. But I'll get to that later".

"You will tell us more about yourself, will you?" James asked. "I want to hear about how you are _different_ from Willow, not _the same_ as Willow".

"Well, both of my parents are still alive, unless one of them had a heart attack or something in the time that I have been here-"/

"They haven't" James said, interrupting me. "Both of them are still alive, but that is not relevant".

"Anyway", I said, "I was always rather socially awkward, and was diagnosed with Asperger's at the age of two. I've always been somewhat of a recluse, preferring to read things on my iPad during lunch at school rather than talk to my peers. I don't think that I was ever in the popular clique, but I was never really a designated 'nerd', either. I was just...there. As I seem I have been at this school, too".

Of course, that last sentence was not accurate in the least. What with the glitch in the flight simulators, nearly dying on the mission to defuse the bomb underneath the glacier, and being very open in my relationship with Willow, I had no doubt that I was making ripples in the social structure of the school.

"Interesting life story" James said. "Do you have any other things to tell us? For instance, what happened on the night of the holiday ball? The night you were sent here?"

"Sure. Willow and I were walking back from the JCC when we heard the sound of revolving blades. She pushed me into the snow, and then I saw her keel over. I thought she'd been shot with a bullet, but I didn't have time to realize this before I was shot myself and blacked out. I woke up in the helicopter on the way to the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, and the rest is history, really".

"And did you see any evidence that Konstantin Brockenbough alerted the Anglar army of the location of the school?" James asked me.

"I did not" I said, confidently. I knew it was the truth. Maybe Konstantin did, maybe he didn't, but I was not convinced based on the evidence that had been provided, if you could even call it that.

"Very well, then" James said. "We have two witnesses left. Will Dr. Howler please stand up?"

* * *

"So you are the matron of the Grey Clouds Flight Academy?" James asked.

"Yes, the fourth one" Dr. Howler said.

"I should know. My son, Fox, is an alumnus of the school. But let's get to the point. Did you see anything related to Konstantin Brockenbough alerting Anglar forces?"

"No" she said. "I wholeheartedly believe that he is innocent on that charge".

James nodded, as though he was accepting what she had said as true. But then, he looked at her critically. "Tell me, Dr. Howler...being the matron of such a school must be a very _taxing_ job, isn't it?"

"Why is that relevant?" she asked indignantly. "Are you implying that...". She didn't need to finish the sentence.

Because I knew full well what James was trying to imply here. Maybe Dr. Howler's stressful job was causing her to not see things that she should be seeing. But it wasn't like the other six of us were all determined to make Konstantin seem as innocent as possible. In fact, many of us, myself included, rather disliked him. We just didn't want to see him possibly put to death for a crime that there was no evidence he committed.

"I am _not_ missing things, James McCloud" she said. "My mind is very sharp, as it must be in order to perform surgical procedures that can be a matter of life or death. I'm not going to miss an obvious alien communication because I'm changing bandages or inserting an IV, or even doing surgery".

James held up his hands defensively. "I never meant to imply something like that! I was just...wondering if maybe...".

"I do not believe that Konstantin Brockenbough did that which he is being indicted for! Let's move on to the last witness".

"Hold on, I've got to make that call" James said. He then consulted a piece of holographic blue paper. "But...it _is_ time for Wolf O'Donnell. Please come up here, Wolf".

* * *

Wolf addressed the jury, looking furious.

"As for whether or not Konstantin ordered the aliens here...I think that is true for sure. I think it is better to lock people up if you don't know that they did it or not. You really _would_ rather be safe than sorry, am I right?"

The jurors started conferring amongst themselves, as if saying, _Hey, I think Wolf's got a point!_

"As for if there is any evidence, there is definitely some circumstantial evidence for this. He _did_ sing a patriotic song for the U.S. instead of giving a speech. And he is definitely showing disdain for the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, and Corneria in general. How long is it before he does something more tangible? And", he said, gesturing at the jury once again, "if I might...you would rather not have him divulge the new location to the Anglars, and we would have nowhere to go. Really and truly snookered. So...please think this through".

It was like a bomb had gone off in the jury box. Even more discussion and arguing ensued, making it clear that this would not be as open-and-shut a case as some of us had been expecting.

"That is enough, Wolf O'Donnell. Thank you for your testimony".

He then gestured to a box on the floor. "I want you to each, in turn, cast your votes in that box, in that room a little down the hallway. The last person will, _without reading the votes,_ carry them back here, where I will arrange them in order and name the verdict. A majority of seven will find Konstantin Brockenbough guilty, and then he will be sentenced if that is the case. So, I implore you...make the right decision".

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

My heart was pounding. Even harder than it would have if I was in a hundred-meter dash. And, considering that I was relatively out of shape, that really was saying something.

A jury of twelve people were about to decide my fate. I could see that, like the other Cornerians I had seen, they were all anthropomorphic animals. Not like I had anything against furries, but I just didn't know what to make of that.

All I did know was, I hated this society.

I preferred the good old U.S.A., where you could be found guilty only if all twelve jurors _unanimously_ voted to convict you. If not, you would not go to prison. Here, it was just simple majority.

Still, I felt confident I would be acquitted. There had been some murmurings, but I didn't think it would amount to anything.

The last juror came back with the voting box and handed it to James. Even though he was a hologram, he was still able to hold physical objects. Again, whatever else you might have been able to say about Corneria, their technology was light-years ahead of that on Earth. And, given that I was a guy who loved technology, _maybe_ I would have liked to live here if I had not been taken here against my will.

In any case, much like Jeff Probst did on _Survivor,_ James took the cover off the box and started reading the votes. I was sure that he had arranged them in the most dramatic manner possible.

"First vote", James said, "not guilty".

I breathed a quick sigh of relief, but then came the next vote.

"Not guilty".

My relief grew greater. Maybe the vote had been unanimous after all. Only time would tell...

"Guilty. That's two votes not guilty, one vote guilty".

My heartbeat quickened again. A guilty vote. Was it just random, or was it going to be the ultimate verdict?

"Not guilty".

"Guilty".

"Guilty".

Each new guilty vote made my heart drop further. _How_ could this many people honestly believe that I was guilty? What was wrong with them?

"Not guilty".

"Not guilty. That's five votes not guilty, three votes guilty. Four votes left".

I breathed another sigh of relief. Unless all of the last four votes were guilty, I would be going free...unless someone flipped on the revote.

"Guilty".

"Guilty. We're tied. That's five votes guilty, five votes not guilty".

I tensed up. My legs were numb after being trapped in such an uncomfortable position for so long. This was very unpleasant, and yet the last two votes would decide it.

"Guilty. That's six votes guilty, five votes not guilty, one vote left".

I gulped. There was no way I was going to be acquitted immediately. And, if this last vote was guilty, then...I didn't want to think about it.

"And the final verdict is...guilty. By a margin of 7-5, the jury has voted that Konstantin Brockenbough is guilty as charged. It is now time to sentence him".

James looked right at me, with fire in his eyes...even though he was wearing sunglasses.

"Konstantin Brockenbough will be executed, in front of the entire school, by firing squad four days from today. This, we feel, is a necessary measure to protect the school. And, with that, justice has been served".

What little hope I had was now dashed. I felt as though the immense weight of all the stone above me was about to come down, crushing and interring me.

This would be my grave.


	16. Chains

**It's another very short chapter, but the others are most likely far longer. More than 5,000 words in the next one, I promise. I didn't include an author's note at the end of it, simply because I didn't want to ruin the ending.**

 **Also, I've said it before, but you get two chapters for the national holiday. So enjoy.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

And so we walked out of the underground courtroom very disgruntled indeed. It wasn't like we hadn't expected this outcome, but we had not exactly _expected_ it either. Konstantin was going to be put to death. It was hard to believe.

"I can't believe Konstantin lost, Dr. Howler" Willow said from in front of me. I was bringing up the rear, followed by Willow, with Cole and Will walking together. Mike was being led by Dr. Howler, who was being led by the one who was leading all of us, Mrs. Hooter. Just to give you a picture of what the scene looked like.

"When you think about it, it's not really that surprising" Dr. Howler said back. Maybe Willow _did_ have a touch of Asperger's as well, because that is one of the things I do sometimes. Sometimes, I do talk to a person when they don't seem to be in the proper place to talk to me.

"What do you mean?" Willow asked, confused.

"Wolf O'Donnell can be very...charismatic" the Bengal tiger replied. "He can easily convince people of anything, and that was necessary. You see, before Wolf worked for this school, he was a criminal".

"Really?" Cole asked. "Man, we'd work well together!"

We hadn't talked much about what had been said in the courtroom about our pasts. I didn't know if Cole's activity, criminal as it was at times, was something that was a sore subject for him to talk about. I'd talked about my past, and so had he.

Really, there was no way to tell.

"Yes, he was a criminal, and Fox McCloud fought and defeated him. But now he's been a mercenary as well, and the only way he would get pardoned would be if he worked to help set up this school. And he did, and that's why you see him as the wrestling teacher now".

"Okay" Cole said.

With that, we reached the top of the winding tunnel, and then it was time for lunch.

* * *

After lunch, the six of us had Battle Tactics together, our first class of its kind. I didn't know what it would have been like at the original location, since I had never had one there, but it was apparently going to be held in the War Room here in this bunker.

I had no idea who was going to teach the class. Maybe Falco himself, but probably not Fox if he truly was off doing his own thing with the war effort. I would just have to wait and see.

Imagine my surprise when it was Slippy Toad who was teaching it. Slippy, the very same teacher that Willow had had a detention with several weeks ago. And, really, it was quite crazy to think about that.

It had been only five or six weeks since Willow and I had been captured, but since then there had been so much that had changed. Now, we were stuck with Konstantin on death row, with no idea what was going on with him right now.

Would he be mistreated severely before he died? Like so many other things I was thinking about, I could really only give one answer to that question: I didn't know.

Slippy said, "Hello, class. I know that a lot of you may have been distracted with everything that has been going on. However, that is by no means going to make it so that we cannot learn some battle strategy. Look in front of you".

The table Willow and I were sitting at suddenly lit up, and what looked like a virtual chessboard appeared on it. This was because it was, in fact, a chessboard.

I was okay at chess, not great by any means, but I didn't know what this had to do with Battle Tactics, or how Slippy would use it to teach us.

"War is a lot like chess" Slippy said. "There are so many different possibilities, many different variables, that you cannot be sure of. What we do know, however, is this: The main thing that makes chess so complicated is that each piece moves in a different way".

"I like chess a lot" Willow said. "I bet I could kick your ass at it anytime".

We shared a good-natured laugh, but it wasn't too loud to the point that we couldn't hear what Slippy said next.

"Our Cornerian weapons are also different in terms of effectiveness and range. Some are more powerful than others. Using which weapon at which time, that is what is important. With all the physical training that you have been doing, it is important to note that brains can be as important as brawn.

"Before you is a simple chess position. I want you to analyze it carefully, and discuss it. For those of you who don't know, I will be putting an explanation on the board of how each piece moves".

Slippy clicked on his remote, and an explanation of each chess piece and how they moved appeared on the screen at the front of the room.

And then, Willow and I looked at the display on our own table.

It was a very simple position, where each side had a king and a pawn. The pawns were facing each other, and the kings were each diagonally behind their pawns.

I was aware of the significance of such a position. This is called _zugzwang,_ which is a German word meaning "compulsion to move". It basically means that it would be in your interest if you didn't have to make a move, because every single move you could _possibly_ make would be bad for your position.

In this position, whichever side was supposed to move would be forced to abandon their own pawn, resulting in it being captured and the other side winning.

"This is an interesting case of mutual zugzwang" Slippy said. "And so it is in war sometimes. There are cases where neither side has the advantage by attacking, and one of the key things is to recognize when that is the case. That is important".

At first, I didn't see that this was too pertinent to what was going on right now. But then, I realized something.

Chess, or more specifically the position of zugzwang, was a good metaphor for what was going on in my life right now. If we tried to rescue Konstantin, we might get captured and/or die doing it. If we didn't, then we would live the rest of our lives wondering what could have been.

It was indeed possible that there were no good moves.

* * *

Later, I was walking down the hallway when, like so many times before, I ended up meeting with none other than Willow Foster. Whether this was by coincidence or some divine intervention, I might never know.

"How is it going, Lucas?" Willow asked me.

The truth was, I didn't know how to answer her. "Not great, I guess. There is the whole thing about Konstantin being put on death row after being found guilty".

"I know, Lucas. The truth of the matter is, it just doesn't sit very well for me that _seven_ witnesses can say that he didn't do it, and then one person can just change all their minds and flip things like that. Now, Konstantin is going to die. Unless..."

"Unless what?" I asked. "He's fucked, isn't he?"

"No" Willow said. "There is a plan going on, right now, to help free him. And you can help".

My heart leapt. I couldn't believe that we might have another chance to save Konstantin after all.

"What should I do?"

"Just meet us in the storage room tonight after lights out. Cole, Mike, Dr. Howler...we're all going to be there. She's in on it too".

"Really?" I asked.

"Yep" said Willow. "But you _mustn't tell anyone!_ We would get in _huge_ trouble if it got out that we were aiding and abetting a convicted criminal escape!"

I didn't want to end the conversation on that happy note. After all, there was something else I wanted to float to her. Something that might cheer both of us up.

"Do you want another night under the stars?" I asked her. "Just like that time on the roof of the original school?"

"I'd love to, Lucas...but I just hope that it won't distract us too much".

"It won't" I said. "We can talk about plans during it. I don't think that the others will mind too much, what with everything else that has been going on at this school".

Willow tensed up a little bit. "I know you're right, but still. The truth is, I don't want to end up in prison just like Konstantin. He looked _terrible!_ Seriously, Lucas".

"Sure" I said. "But when do you want to hang out under the stars? We need a game plan for this date, you know".

"How about tomorrow night?" she asked. "That's just two nights before our plan to rescue him. Is that good with you? Does that work?"

"It does" I said, pulling her into a hug.

Even with all the turmoil going on around us, I will say this much: No hug from Willow Foster had ever felt so good.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

That night, all of us managed to find the way to the storage room, where we were holding a meeting for one purpose: Figure out how to rescue Konstantin Brockenbough, an innocent youth convicted of a heinous crime.

Lucas, Willow, Mike, Will, Seventy-Four, and Dr. Howler were all there with me. It needed to be a group effort, or else we would never get this thing done.

"Konstantin is being restrained quite a lot" Dr. Howler said. "He is being guarded 24/7, and there is no way that we would be able to get past them without subduing them first. I just wish there was a way".

"I can help" I said. "I used to be a criminal. I'm good at martial arts and stuff like that".

"I'm afraid I can't help you with that" said Lucas. "I only ever got to yellow belt in karate".

"In any case", Dr. Howler said, "we're going to need a lot of things in order to rescue him. As the school's doctor, I have access to video footage of him occasionally. If it seems that he will be too weak to walk, we can bring a stretcher down here. Anything to carry him will work".

"Where will you get a stretcher?" Lucas asked.

"They carried you off the mountain on a stretcher, Lucas!" I said, rolling my eyes.

"Well, I was unconscious at the time!" Lucas said good-naturedly, rolling his eyes back at me.

"Guys, it's time to stop talking about it. But to answer your question, Lucas, we have plenty of stretchers in the hospital wing, and it was easy to get one from there for you back on the mountain. It's going to be all right in that regard".

"How will we get away?" Mike asked.

"It's simple, really" Dr. Howler said. "The Great Fox is going to be parked in the hangar. We have full endorsement to fly it".

"How-" I began to ask.

"I'll field that question" said a voice from elsewhere in the room.

From behind a tower of boxes stepped a tropical bird. Falco Lombardi.

* * *

Falco looked enthusiastic to fly again. I knew that his motto was, "Personally, I prefer the air".

"You've been here the whole time?" Will asked incredulously.

"That's right. I've been listening in on your whole conversation. And I'm helping in your rescue efforts. You're okay with that, aren't you?"

"As long as you don't snitch" Will said.

Falco held up his wing. "I'm not going to tell anyone that's not present in this room. Well, other than Konstantin. And I'll fly you guys out of here. I'll give you the speed you need".

"That's right" Dr. Howler said.

"I can give you a tour of the Great Fox on the day after tomorrow" Falco said. "It'll help you to know the ship that you will be using as well as possible, because believe me when I say that you _will_ want to get used to it. You understand that, right?"

We all nodded.

"So...how do you get all this medical equipment?" I asked Dr. Howler. "I mean...wasn't the med lab back at the old school taken?"

"That is true" the Bengal tiger responded. "However, we've been collecting supplies, perfectly legitimately, from hospitals around here. Truly, we are far ahead in terms of medical technology to the humans".

"So...when do you collect this stuff?" Lucas asked her.

"They understand that I need things for the new med lab. We've been building up a blood supply, stocking up on antibiotics, other things to treat wounds...that sort of thing. This is all going to work out, guys, if we can rescue Konstantin".

"But why do we need to get all the medical supplies?" Mike piped up.

"You never can tell what might come down" Falco said. "Truly, the far corners of the Lylat System can be some very dangerous places. So...let's carry out the plan three nights from now. Does that sound good? It's the last night we _can_ do it, before Konstantin gets executed".

"I understand" I said. "But doesn't this all sound really dangerous? I mean, we have a moral obligation to do it for sure. But still-".

With the expression that Dr. Howler looked at me with, I got the gist of what she was trying to get me to understand.

It might have been a very dangerous plan. It might be totally irrational to think that we could succeed.

But it wasn't like we would have an easy time living with ourselves if we didn't try.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

The following night, two nights before the plan to break out Konstantin, and two and a half days before his scheduled execution, Lucas and I snuck out of bed once again and followed the path outside.

Really, it wasn't too hard to find the roof. If you just kept on going up when you found staircases, you would get there eventually. The only question was whether or not we were going to get caught.

Thankfully, we weren't noticed by anyone. As it had been said before, I felt like with Konstantin being on death row and all, they would have bigger fish to fry than us.

I sat next to Lucas once again, and it was truly a rewarding feeling. Even though an innocent nineteen-year-old was about to be executed unless we managed to save him, and we had been run out of the Grey Clouds Flight Academy due to the Anglar forces, not to mention being sold here by our families, this was one of the few things that felt right anymore.

"Can you see the stars any better up here, Lucas?" I asked my boyfriend.

"You know, Willow, I can. It seems like being in the mountains, farther from all the city lights, makes it easier to see the stars and constellations".

"That's been scientifically proven, you know" I said.

"I am aware of that" Lucas responded.

We sat together for several minutes in silence, holding each other's hands. We didn't know how long we would be able to stay out here, because we would need to focus all of our powers in the morning on getting Konstantin out while also not appearing suspicious to the authorities here. I was glad that Dr. Howler was helping us, but I didn't know how much she could really do in order to do so.

"One of my dad's colleagues", Lucas said after a while, "owns a resort out west. Or, in the western U.S., to be fair. I don't know whether we are east or west on Corneria or what, but this resort is in the western part of America".

"What about this resort?" I asked him.

"One night, they got a professional astronomer came to the apple orchard with his humongous telescope. We each took turns climbing up the ladder to look through it, and the stars are so clear out in the wilderness like that. But this is on a whole new level".

"I know" I said. The stars in Corneria seemed to be far closer to the ground than they were on Earth.

"But, Willow", he said, "no stars can compare to your eyes. In this one moment, your beauty awes me more than the stars. I know that sounds like a cheesy pickup line that they use all the time, but that's really how I feel".

"Oh" I said, kind of laughing, as I pulled him into my embrace. We hugged, cuddling with each other on the rocky ground.

Of course, though, we knew that this moment could not last forever. At a certain point, we would have to get out of each other's embraces, and realize that reality would have to take precedence over sentimentality.

That moment did come, and Lucas pulled out of my embrace.

"Do you think this plan is going to work?" he asked in a far more serious manner.

"I don't know" I said. "But, Lucas, don't we have to at least _try?_ If we fail, well...at least Konstantin won't be so lonely in his death row cell".

Lucas laughed wryly at that comment. But he still pulled me into his arms again.

We kissed each other, using the extremely dark blue sky as a canopy. We held each other, never wanting to let go.

* * *

The next morning, while treading water during Aquatics, I looked up at the bright blue sky. Konstantin had not seen this sky in a very long time, I could assume.

And as I looked near Solar, the Lylat System's sun, I got the feeling that if this worked out, this was where we would take him. At least, in this direction.

We could hope.

* * *

 **That's the end of your double dose of Wing And A Scare. There are only two chapters after this, and I'm already done with two chapters of the sequel.**

 **One other thing: I have a Tumblr now. Same name. Now that I have a blog, you'll be able to see some more things about me. I hope you enjoy it.**


	17. Rescue Plans

**Today is the start of a new era. Donald John Trump will, for the next 1,441 days, be our president. With approval ratings at an all-time low for an incoming president, we are going to see some riots. If you live in a blue city within a red state, be prepared. But that's enough about politics.**

 **This is the penultimate chapter. At long last, we have hit 2,000 views. I am hoping that the next story may have even more.**

 **Also, to guest reviewer Anonymous: I have not played Phoenix Wright. However, things are different on Corneria.**

 **In any case, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

It was now the afternoon after Willow and I had our second night under the stars, and it seemed that there were a great many things that could go wrong. For instance, it was far from guaranteed that we would be able to rescue Konstantin from his underground prison. Really, it seemed like he had been a little too careless with his enthusiastic singing of a song that he thought was patriotic, as well as the fact that he was flipping off the Cornerian flag the whole time.

Even so, there was no evidence that he had done anything wrong in terms of allowing the Anglars to penetrate the boundaries of the school. None.

After my lunch and rest hour (which had become extremely boring and anxiety-inducing given that it was time during which we were not able to discuss our plans), I decided to go for a walk, since we had a free period.

Eventually, I ended up in the hangar, which was still an impressive room here, even if it might have been far grander in the original location. Here, though, it looked a little more practical. It was even large enough to hold the Great Fox, and that thing was no joke in terms of size!

And, at the bottom of the landing gear...was a Bengal tiger.

Not just _any_ Bengal tiger. It was Dr. Howler, and she was carrying large cardboard boxes into the ship. She appeared to be struggling with them a bit, so I raised my hand and called, "Hey, Dr. Howler!"

She looked so startled that she nearly dropped the box.

"Whoa, Lucas, you almost made me drop some bags of blood!" she said, half-angry, half-laughing at me. I could tell, however, that I had surprised her.

"Sorry I startled you" I said. "I just was walking around here, and I was wondering...do you want some help with whatever you're doing?"

"That'd be great" she said. "I'm carrying medical supplies and other things into the Great Fox. You can never be too prepared for a crisis, and like I have said before, I don't know what condition we will find Konstantin in. I've got plenty of bandages just in case. In fact, they're in the next box!"

Looking around the hangar, I saw that cardboard boxes were arranged in what seemed to be rows of ten, and there seemed to be a lot of them.

"So...I just pick some up and carry them in? Yes, that's going to be easy. I got some guns!"

In truth, I'm not really that muscular. Even though I'm extremely tall, I'm a little bit scrawny, and my arms are pretty skinny. But, I can carry some heavy things if I don't repeatedly have to lift them up and down. For instance, medical supplies.

"Good" Dr. Howler said. "Just be careful with the IV bags. Those things can be very fragile".

I promised her that I would, and then I started hauling boxes into the Great Fox.

"The med bay is just to the right of the entrance, so that's where you should take the stuff" she said as I began to load the supplies into the ship.

The inside of the ship appeared slightly futuristic, but also a little bit homey. If what Dr. Howler said was true, we might end up living in the ship for a while, so it would be good to be familiar with it and like the accommodations.

I remembered the med bay of the ship from when Falco had carried me in here after I'd gotten bitten by the Anglar. She probably assumed that I had been too out of it at the time to be able to realize where I was. She'd clearly been wrong.

Dr. Howler was stronger than you might think, which was probably due to the fact that she was a Bengal tiger. She could take one box at a time, and so could I. Together, we were making a little bit of a dent in the boxes.

"All of the cardboard is going to go in the incinerator" she said. "We have, on the Great Fox, other things to store the supplies in".

"You could've told me that earlier!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry, but you'll have to put the other things in their respective refrigerators. Luckily, in this fridge, the blood keeps practically forever. So you should be thankful, that you don't have to make regular donations just in case".

In general, the task was easy. The only things that were problematic were the IV poles, which required us to each take one end and maneuver them through the doorway. Luckily, there weren't too many of those, so we were soon left with just the bags and bandages, as well as surgical equipment.

Just then, I heard a knock at the door. I excused myself from helping for a minute so I could answer it, since the hangar was _massive._

"Hey!" Cole said.

"We were walking down the hallways, but we hear that Dr. Howler is carrying medical supplies into the Great Fox. Is that true?"

"Yes, it is" the Bengal tiger said, grunting as she carried a box that, I had seen earlier, contained two computers.

"You want to help?" I asked them. "Eight hands are better than four".

"Sure!" they both said in unison.

And so, we all continued our work on carrying the boxes into the Great Fox. As I looked at the freshly painted parts of the outside of the ship, I thought about the day that we would, if everything went right in the next two days, take to the skies in this thing.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

Ever since the trial had ended, I had not been in a good mood. Technically, things had sucked even _before_ I had learned that I would be executed, but now it was far worse.

I was in a dark, dank prison cell that was at least a hundred feet underground. It reminded me of the time that our family had gone skiing in the Alps, and there we had gone on a tram that cut through a mountain. That was cool at the time, but now I had grown to despise the idea of being underground.

If, by some miracle, I was rescued, I would forever hate anything having to do with underground. I'd follow Falco's philosophy of "Personally, I prefer the air".

I had not been given any water for two days, and I could feel dehydration start to take effect on me. I was feeling rather hot, and this wasn't something that was to be taken lightly given that I grew up in Texas. The chains were chafing against my fleshy skin, and I knew that at this point, death _would_ be a relief.

In addition, every single movement I made felt sluggish, in a way that I could imagine Lucas might have felt after being cured of hypothermia by Dr. Howler. If only the Bengal tiger were here right now. Things could have been so much better, having another person to share my misery with. Plus, she'd deserve it, too.

Really, what had I done to deserve this? I was an innocent young man, driving off to college, when I get involved in traffic akin to a parking lot. So what do I do? I leave my vehicle and walk down the hill, trying to find the source of the problem.

But instead, I get shot by a tranquilizer arrow and wake up on the way to the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, also known as the Tenth Circle Of Hell. Yeah, that's how strongly I felt about the place. I was stuck with people whom I absolutely despised.

And then what? Our school gets attacked by the alien race that the war is being fought against, so they evacuate. _I get it._ But did they really have to lock me up, with no evidence substantiating the idea that I was responsible? What kinds of people _were_ they?

Then, I was put on trial and, by a vote of seven to five (which would probably have been unanimous or close to unanimous in my favor if Wolf had not butted in), sentenced to execution. Again, death would not be so bad as compared to this, but that doesn't change the fact that I'd have to endure another few days here before I enjoyed the sweet release.

My mouth was getting increasingly dry, and I had not been fed since I was sentenced. I guess that they just didn't see a point in feeding someone who was going to be executed just a few days from now. Which I guess I understood, but still, I was hungry. My stomach was aching, and I don't like to go without food.

Just when I thought that I could not get any hungrier, the door to my cell opened. The guard, whose face I was not able to make out, placed my lunch in front of me. I was only barely able to extend my chains enough to pick up the plate, and I looked at the contents.

It was really quite pitiful, just a mini bagel and no water. Well, at least it was _something._

In spite of my dry mouth, I was able to eat it in just one bite. Yes, it was _that_ small!

This mini bagel, however, did little to satiate my hunger pangs. Not like it would matter soon enough, but I still felt that with each passing day with little or no food, I would sink far enough to the ground to the point that I didn't even need to be executed. Maybe I'd just sink through the floor.

Feeling around my belly, I could tell that I had probably lost at least five pounds by now. This would be a good diet plan, I realized. If not for the fact that I wasn't able to exercise at all, except try to hold myself up against the urge to fall down and go to sleep.

No, I was probably being watched. I didn't want to give those fuckers the satisfaction of knowing that they had been able to get to me. They would not get that much, and they didn't deserve it after all of the atrocities they had committed.

With that, I sat back down, the chains clinking once again, reminding me that until the moment I faced the firing squad, I was very much tethered to this life, and the pain that it brought.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

The preparations continued. After the afternoon that I had devoted to helping carry medical supplies into the med bay of the Great Fox, I tried to focus the majority of my brainpower in lessons not actually working on my lessons. Instead, I devoted it to thinking about how we would rescue Konstantin.

After all, if we succeeded, we would have to leave the school in order to keep him, and ourselves, safe from their wrath.

On the afternoon before Konstantin's scheduled execution date, I once again saw Dr. Howler in the hangar. This time, she was with a different figure, yet one that I had seen many times before.

It was a dark blue anthropomorphic tropical bird. I knew, of course, that this was Falco Lombardi. Not only that, but the other students involved in the plan were present as well, and I had no wonder about what was going on. At least, I could tell that it was something having to do with what we were trying to do to save Konstantin.

"Hey, Lucas" Falco said. "You're just in time. Do you want to get a tour of the Great Fox, so that you know what your life on the ship is going to be like once you have rescued Konstantin?"

"I most certainly do!" I said enthusiastically. Because, really, I was quite curious to see what life was like on Star Fox's mother ship. It was going to be quite interesting.

"The others have already told me that they would like to see it, so that's what we're doing. Now, if you'll follow me, climb up the ramp into the ship".

We did so, and then we were inside the Great Fox. This was, depending on how you counted it, either the third or several hundredth time that I had been inside the ship. No matter what, it was quite something.

The foyer of the Great Fox had blue wall-to-wall carpeting, making it look kind of like my room at home in Maine...which really made me sad and mad at my parents for sending me here.

 _Way to reopen old wounds, Falco!_

In any case, it was really quite spectacular. Falco led us into the med bay and showed us everything that we had helped set up.

Unlike the hospital wing at the school, this place did _not_ look like an early-21st-century hospital room. Instead, it looked far more high-tech, which was no surprise considering the place we were living. IV stands still looked fairly the same, but the beds looked a little more futuristic. Despite this, they looked fairly comfortable, which was important for recuperating patients.

"Here's the blood bank, here's the bandage box, here's the saline stash..." Falco said, showing off each area as he said its name.

"You really love alliteration, don't you?" Cole asked teasingly.

Falco chuckled good-naturedly. "Yes, I do, but does it really matter? No, I do not think so. I want to show you the rest of this place if you'll let me".

We all nodded, and so Falco led us out of the med bay, while also showing us the operating room just in case someone needed a very quick patch-up after a severe injury or something. "Expect a lot of those" Falco said.

He then led us down the stairs into the rec room, and it was quite a rec room indeed! There was a pool table, which I never really cared about, reason being I don't like to play pool. There was also a table tennis table, a TV with several video game consoles, and a dartboard.

"I bet Konstantin is going to _kill_ us at Super Smash Bros.!" Cole exclaimed.

"Not until we rescue him" Dr. Howler chided.

Her reminder seemed to bring Cole back to earth, remembering that there was no guarantee that our mission would even succeed. It was going to be tough to get him out of his prison, but we would do everything we could to at least _try._

"I guess not" he said.

"This is the rec room, where you will likely spend a lot of your free time, of which you tend to have a lot when traversing the galaxy. The nearest planet, for instance, is Fichina. There's a city there, and yet it is several days from here at the speed this thing travels. You'll have to go full engines ahead...and I'm coming with you!"

"Wait, you are?" Will asked him.

"Yes, I am going to help you get Konstantin out, as I'm sure I have already told you. You haven't seen the best part of the ship yet, though. Don't you want to see where you're going to sleep?"

* * *

The sleeping arrangements were even better than they had been at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, which was saying something. The beds, while not four-posters, were very nice bunk beds, much like you would see in a suburban home. There was a sturdy-looking railing so that you wouldn't fall off the top bunk.

"And there's a bathroom right here that each of you can brush your teeth in. There are three bedrooms and three bathrooms in total on the ship, and there's a dining area, which is where we're going next".

Falco led us down a carpeted hallway to the dining room, which was right next to the kitchen. This dining area held a table that could seat up to twelve people, and it was just as fancy as the special Christmas tablecloth that they used at home. I knew that they celebrated Christmas on Corneria, but I didn't know if the Great Fox would have additional tablecloths reserved for special occasions.

I decided that didn't matter right now. Not when Falco was still showing us around the place.

* * *

Falco led us into what looked like a large home gym. "This is the exercise room" he said. "N

ormal gravity is simulated in here, meaning that you won't lose muscle mass at the rate that you would on the International Space Station. Even so, it is still important to exercise in order to stay healthy".

Dr. Howler looked at us seriously. "I expect all of you to spend at least thirty minutes in there each day, unless I say otherwise. Do you understand me?"

Everyone present nodded. Willow held up her arms like a professional bodybuilder.

"All right" Falco said. "We've got treadmills, weights, exercise bikes, and elliptical machines. It's enough to keep you all in shape on a long trip, am I right?"

After we stated that we had understood, Falco then told us to leave and take our daily showers. Even though I had now seen where we would hopefully be living once we escaped, that didn't change the fact that I was so very worried about what we were going to do in order to rescue Konstantin. I didn't know if it could even work.

* * *

 **DR. HOWLER'S POV**

An hour later, during dinner, I was eating a meatball sub when I got the feeling that I was being watched. I know that that sounds pretty cliche, but it was really what I felt like. I didn't know what to make of it, until I turned around to look and see for myself what was going on.

And, lo and behold, it turned out that I _was_ being watched. More specifically, Katt Monroe was behind me.

I didn't know if Bill Grey was aware of the plan to bust Konstantin out of his death row cell, or, if so, he wanted to prevent it. If the answer to at least one of those questions was no, then Katt was the highest-ranking person at the school who would be in opposition to what we were doing.

Either way, I felt a certain degree of nervousness when I noticed her, and I tried not to perspire, because that would make me look guilty.

"Good evening, Dr. Howler" she said coolly to me.

"Good evening, Katt" I said, not knowing what she wanted, but having a strong feeling that it was something not in my best interest.

Katt turned towards me. "I want you to view some more footage of Konstantin as he is in his cell. I want you to make sure that no one tries to bust him out, and alert me _immediately_ if an attempt starts. You got that?"

"Yes, Katt" I said.

* * *

I had been to this room before.

Katt had led me to a room that had been built into the rock foundation of the mountain. This room was lined with pink and green tiles that looked like something you would see on a game show. A series of video cameras were built into the walls, each of which showed footage of a different part of the school.

A staff member was supposed to be manning these cameras at all times. The reason for this was that, if there was anything dangerous going on, it was our job to put a stop to it and protect the students.

I took this job very seriously. After all, I was the school's doctor, and so it was my responsibility to take care of the students. I could see footage of the hospital from here, as well as each of the classrooms and the hangar.

The central camera, which was far larger than the others, always showed the room that was judged to be the most important at the time. While the criteria for this were not something that I had been made aware of, I was not surprised to see that the central camera currently showed Konstantin's cell a hundred feet underground.

Looking at the screen, I saw just how absolutely pitiful the youth looked. He was hunched over, no doubt from the tiredness that resulted from being forcefully stood up with anklets and wristbands that shackled him to the ground and the walls. Escape was impossible, and he seemed resolved to this.

If he succumbed to the exhaustion, he was going to collapse in a heap on the floor, and that would be quite painful. And yet, from the combined forces of exhaustion, dehydration, and aches, I had no doubt that was going to happen eventually.

There were, however, positives to this job. As I was able to gauge the type of medical care he would be likely to need should we save him, I was also able to see where his cell was. I knew that it was ten stories underground, but I could also see how it was guarded.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like it would be easy to get through their defenses. The cell was guarded 24/7, as if a bunch of chains weren't enough to keep him in one place. For all intents and purposes, he looked like Zoroark in the movie _Zoroark: Master Of Illusion._ More specifically, it looked like the scene where Kodai has trapped her in a box and bound her to the walls with chains of electricity that shock her when she tries to break out.

In this case, it would lash tighter around his ankles if he attempted to escape, much like a Chinese finger trap. He wouldn't be able to get out without outside help, and none was likely to be forthcoming unless...

 _Unless..._

Getting past the guards had seemed hopeless, but I suddenly had a burst of inspiration. I literally felt my face light up in a smile, which might have tipped my watcher (yes, I was being watched as I watched the screen, much like in that Dr. Seuss book) that something was up. I just couldn't let Katt realize this, or else I would fuck up our plans.

I'd been one of the ones who helped develop the sedative that we used to capture the students by knocking them out and dragging them into the choppers. As Mrs. Hooter had used on the very youth that I was now watching suffer in a dank prison cell, I had seen that it was possible to administer the sedative by way of arrow. You didn't need to have a direct shot into their arm or leg. You could just shoot it into them from afar.

I didn't have good enough aim for that. But I knew someone who did.

* * *

As soon as I was allowed to leave the camera room, I found Mrs. Hooter in the archery range of the new school. She was doing some target practice, as she almost always was. When I saw just how engrossed she seemed to be in what she was doing, I could tell that it would be an uphill battle in order to convince her.

"Hey...Mrs. Hooter?" I went to ask her.

She fired her arrow before turning to face me. Which was a good thing, because I was the most skilled doctor here, and no one wants the doctor to get hurt.

"What is it, Dr. Howler? I'm kind of busy here!" she said irritably.

"There's something I would like your help with" I said, trying to get straight to the point.

"Well, tell me, then" she said.

I didn't know where to begin. Since she had been the one to escort all of us to Konstantin's trial, I decided to skip to the verdict.

"As you know, Konstantin Brockenbough was found guilty despite no actual _evidence_ being brought up in the trial. I think that this is a big problem, and I am part of a group that is trying to help him escape from his cell".

"Are you _crazy_?" Mrs. Hooter lashed out at me. "You don't even know if any of these people will betray you or not! You have no idea if they are trustworthy, so why work with them on something as dangerous as _this?_ "

"It's just the same students who were at the trial with us" I said, trying to calm her down.

Mrs. Hooter put down her bow and tried to steady her breathing. "I'm sorry. I just...get a bit out of control".

I helped the owl sit down in a chair before I said more to her.

"So why do you want _me,_ of all people, to help you with this crazy plan of yours?" she asked, sounding like I must not have been right in the head.

I explained the whole thing about how the sedatives, when the arrow was laced with them, could be shot into someone from afar. "Just look how you did it to Konstantin" I said.

"Okay. I'm still not entirely persuaded that I should do it. I mean, there will be a _lot_ of guards. It's not going to be easy getting past all of them, even with the tranquilizer arrows. And if we get caught, _we're_ going to be the ones in trouble, and that won't even get Konstantin free. Are you really going to do this?"

At this point, I was almost tearing up, although I tried not to show it. "I've got no choice, Mrs. Hooter. You might be the only person who could help us, and we really want to do this. I, quite honestly, think that this is our moral obligation to do everything in our power".

Mrs. Hooter laughed darkly. "Okay, so even if I did this...where would you go afterwards? This school wouldn't be safe for you anymore, you do realize that?"

"Simple. We'd escape in the Great Fox, which is already prepped with plenty of food and medical supplies. It's going to work out. But if _you_ don't want to leave with us, that's fine. Stay here and let whatever happens to you happen".

She sighed. "Fine. I'll do it. But you'd better not tell anyone!"

 _Like I'm going to,_ I thought.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

I had drifted off...some time ago. I didn't know how long I had been asleep, but I knew it could not have been more than a day or so, because I had not been executed yet. Or maybe they were waiting for me to wake up, so that I could feel the full pain and terror that the firing squad would bring. There was no way to know.

The firing squad was going to come at about two in the morning two days after the last point I had fallen asleep. This meant that, if I had slept through the night, this might be my last full day in this world.

In falling asleep, I had also fallen forward. I was more chained than I had ever been, and it was utterly pitiful. I was glad that my family couldn't see me now, because I probably looked like I was in a lot of pain.

Granted, I _was_ in a lot of pain. The chains dug into my ankles and wrists, and blood was starting to come out in drops. Not to the point that would make one worry about blood loss, but still it was not pleasant. My mouth was as dry as the Sonoran Desert, and I didn't know if I would be able to swallow my dinner...if I would even _get_ fed this close to my execution.

 _Fuck the Cornerians for doing this to me!_

Really, there was nothing else I could think about other than my physical state, as well as my mental and emotional states. The anger helped fuel me, make me determined to last until my execution. And I would die as I had lived here, with two middle fingers raised at the flag.

Just then, a knock came at my door. A guard came in with a plate of food, setting it before me.

It didn't look too appetizing- a few slices of dark lettuce with bread burnt to a crisp. It looked like it had been left out to dry for a _very_ long time, but it was still food.

As I leaned into it, the guard pushed me away.

"This food is not for you, Brockenbough" the guard said. Before I could protest, he slapped me on the stomach, _hard._

 _Maybe he's just trying to make me not eat,_ I thought.

But no, he kept on beating me, on the stomach, legs, and arms. The pain was becoming unbearable, and I wished that I would just die from this already. Not have to face any more of this punishment. Send me straight to my execution already.

After five minutes of this, he slapped me in the head, which sent me reeling. Because of my chains, I was limited in terms of how far I would be sent backwards, but that didn't change the fact that my vision darkened.

I tried to stand back up, but he hit me once again on the leg. I fell forward...

...and lost consciousness.

* * *

I woke up some time later, which I estimated was the next morning. Really, down here there was no way to tell. Not from deep inside a mountain, there wasn't.

This was the last morning before the guards came in to lead me off to the firing squad. And, unless there was some crazy miracle that took place, this would be the last morning of my life.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this moderate-length chapter. The next chapter is the last one. Since the author's note at the end will be HUGE, it is likely to be the longest in the story.**

 **In any case, enjoy reading and reviewing!**

 **And no, I'm not running out of ideas. I just REALLY wanted to add Dr. Howler's POV.**


	18. The Scare

**This is it: the final chapter! It's long, emotional, action-packed, and has a lot of content in it. At the end, I think you will be satisfied with how it ends. It's 9,916 words long, making it by a slim margin the longest chapter in this story. It's second only to the final chapter of Labyrinth, which is a little over ten thousand words. Also, we have reached 40 reviews at last!**

 **Cosmicsafe asks: What is your favorite movie?**

 **SnowLucario answers: I'm not really a movie person. I recently saw Nerve, which was hilarious. And Lucario and The Mystery Of Mew is another great one. But my two favorite movies, which I have loved since childhood, are I Love Toy Trains: Oh No! and Balto. The former is a compilation of toy train derailments and things like that. I remember visiting my grandparents and there being a model train museum that was only open on Saturdays. That always inspired awe in me, just like that audiokinetic sculpture. The movie is hilarious and even features a few Pokemon plushies in it, along with the creepy voice of some guy saying "Oh no!" whenever Eevee falls from a crane or the milk bottles don't make it into the back of the truck.**

 **As for Balto, it's a classic retelling of a true story. It has a bit of romance, a bit of humor, and my sister is obsessed with wolves. She's always loved it, and even the other two that were made. Only the first is based on something that actually happened, though.**

 **I really hope that you enjoy it and review it. There is a long note at the bottom, but I don't want to delay your enjoyment with more talking about our new president, or anything else about my personal life. So, here goes.**

 **Enjoy the final chapter of Wing And A Scare!**

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

It was getting to crunch time.

We had less than thirty-six hours to get our plan fully together, because the morning after the one that was about to come up, Konstantin Brockenbough would be executed. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, unless we were successful.

The consequences of failure would be immense. _We_ would likely be imprisoned or put on death row if we were caught. The consequences of _not trying_ would be far worse.

We had to believe there was a possibility. If not, we'd already lost.

Right now, I was at a meeting with Lucas, Seventy-Four, Cole, Mike, Will, Mrs. Hooter, Dr. Howler, and Falco, trying to figure out the best way to free him. Ideas had been tossed around for what felt like years, even though it had only been a couple of days. The whole time, I could feel that the atmosphere was becoming more and more desperate. They needed to think of something, quick.

"I know what the plan is" Mrs. Hooter said, surprising all of the students present.

It was a pleasant surprise, though. It was good just to _have_ a plan after all of the confusion and chaos. Whatever it would end up being, at least it was a _plan._

"What is the plan, Mrs. Hooter?" my boyfriend asked. Lucas was looking good today in his purple shirt and turquoise pants, which he had grown into quite well. In the past month and a half, he had put on muscle, particularly during his training for the mission to defuse the bomb under the glacier. He seemed to be ready for another one.

Dr. Howler, rather than the archery instructor, was the one to answer him.

"We're going to get a stretcher from the hospital wing, because it's likely that he will not be able to walk under his own power. It's also likely that he will need some medical treatment in the Great Fox, so it's really just a precaution. Plus, it'll just make it easier to carry him in between us, I should think".

Falco nodded. "I'm coming with you guys. It's understood that I have to leave to help with the war effort, since there are no more flight simulators up in the mountains. As long as we do everything we can around the galaxy in order to help with the war effort, that increases the chances that Konstantin may be pardoned if they figure out that he's innocent, should they decide that his good deeds outweigh his purported bad ones".

"And how will we get past the guards?" Will asked. I sure as hell hoped that someone would have an answer for that, because that someone was not going to be me.

"The reason Dr. Howler went to me to work with you guys was because she knew that I was good with shooting. I'm going to shoot tranquilizer darts into the soldiers and make them pass out, so we can get past them. And we might have to use the stretcher as a weapon, too. All that matters, though, is that we get Konstantin and ourselves back up ten stories, preferably alive".

It was an interesting plan, I had to agree with that. Would it work?

There was only one way to find out.

"What will we do after we have gotten away?" Cole asked.

"We'll take Konstantin into the med bay and do whatever we need to do to get him healthy again. Then, we'll take to the skies, and go somewhere else in the galaxy...where we might be needed".

"Where might that be?" I asked.

Falco pressed a button on a remote, and a holographic screen descended from the ceiling. From there, we could see a map of the Lylat System.

It looked just as it did in the video game. We were on Corneria, the planet furthest to the left. In the lower parts of the galaxy were the astroid belt of Meteo, the ice planet of Fichina, Sector X (which was filled with junk), the desert planet Titania, and the destroyed satellite Bolse. The middle parts of the galaxy included the planet Katina, the sun of Solar, and the manufacturing planet of Macbeth. As for the upper reaches, Sectors Y and Z, the planets Aquas and Zoness, and Area 6 were included.

And, at the far right of it all, there was the planet Venom. Which looked very intimidating at the moment, being far larger than Corneria and having the atmosphere be covered with noxious gases. Would we ever have to go there? There was no telling what might happen.

"You see that icy planet in the southern part of the galaxy?" Falco asked us.

We all nodded.

"That's Fichina, and we have a base there. If you can only reach that base, you will be in a place where Konstantin will not be prosecuted. It's only the Cornerian authorities who see him as a threat. There's only one problem, though".

"What is that?" I asked, worried that I already know what the answer to my question was.

"The asteroid belt. Meteo. It's very dangerous for the Great Fox, and even our Arwings from eleven years ago had a difficult time making their way through. You'lll need to constantly be on your toes, and make sure that you don't hit too many meteors".

"Which means that Konstantin won't be our navigator" Dr. Howler said. "I've seen footage of him. He looks like he's probably in a lot of pain and dehydrated. He'll need to be able to recover in the med bay for a long enough time that I am satisfied he is well enough to help me with navigation. Or, rather, Falco".

"Do you think this is going to work? Be honest with me" I said.

Dr. Howler looked at me with a serious expression.

"We don't know, Willow, but I think that we really do have a moral obligation to do as much as possible to help. Don't you agree?"

* * *

Lying in my sleeping bag that night, which was likely to be Konstantin's second to last, I mulled over this a little more.

It sure seemed that this plan was a long shot. Sure, Dr. Howler was right about our moral obligation to help the innocent young man escape from his death, but I didn't know if it would result in the rest of us dying as well. Was it really worth the risk?

On the other hand, the plan sure did sound good. Mrs. Hooter was a real crack-shot, and she was going to be able to work those tranquilizer arrows well. They wouldn't even kill the guards, so I figured that was the perfect plan. Even if we did knock them out, we'd be showing that we were the better people.

 _We're going to do it. And I'll be a part of it._

That thought helped me to get into a position comfortable enough to get to sleep.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

Some time ago, I had been knocked unconscious by the beating, my body deciding that it couldn't take that much punishment. I wished that I would have died right then and there. It would have been far better than what most likely awaited me.

The time that I had been unconscious didn't affect me at all when I was awake, though. It didn't make me feel any more rested in the morning, so I was still chained to the ground and hurting like a bitch. It hurt a lot, being splayed out like that, like some ancient torture method where they ripped a person's body limb from limb.

Granted, I was going to die in a far less painful manner. That was, if the aches, pains, hunger, and dehydration didn't kill me first. At this point, anything was possible with those Cornerian jerks. No matter what Bruce Springsteen might have been singing about, I was proud to have been born in the U.S.A.. Now, I would never see it again.

I didn't cry, though. I didn't want to look like a wuss in front of the people locking me up, because, as I said earlier, I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing that they had gotten to me. They didn't deserve that.

I was getting close to sleep again, but I knew that someone would probably be coming in to beat me up again soon. Ever since I had been sentenced to execution by firing squad, they had been treating me less and less humanely. How much longer could I last? Would I even _stand_ to face the firing squad?

Sometimes I got this fantasy that there might be a chance, however slim, that I might be rescued. It was just that, though; a fantasy. I had been dreaming every night that I was carried out of here on a stretcher by Lucas, Dr. Howler, and the others.

Yes, it was ridiculous. I wasn't going to even _hope_ that I would be rescued. There was such a slim possibility of it happening that it was barely even worth entertaining it.

I was dreaming of food. Corn on the cob, biscuits, rolls, carrots, soup...everything you could think of that might be enjoyed at a Southern picnic...and the sun as well. You couldn't forget the sun, which I was highly unlikely to ever see again. Again, though, the whole idea that I would even _eat_ any of those Southern delights again was just ludicrous.

Besides, I didn't even _want_ to live that badly any more. I was too tired, in too much pain. Hopefully, the next time I woke up, it would be in a place with far less pain. Then, I could just get rid of all this baggage. I could ignore the Cornerians and do whatever I wanted in heaven, or whatever might come after I died.

With that, I fell into an uneasy sleep, knowing that there was a very good chance that the next time I woke up again, there would be a lot more pain to come.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

The next day, I knew, was going to be Konstantin's last day alive unless we managed to pull this miracle off. I didn't know if it would even be possible, but if we never tried, we would never know.

My first class on what was going to be my last day here was Aquatics. I wanted to appear as normal as possible, because if I behaved too differently from normal, someone might begin to suspect that something was up and, really, who could blame them?

No. The fewer teachers and students who weren't part of the plan who knew, the better. That was just the way this was going to have to go.

After I had practiced my breaststroke and front crawl, we were allowed to move onto the butterfly. And then, we left the class.

Battle Tactics with Slippy Toad was my last class today, right before lunch. Whether or not we succeeded in our mission to rescue Konstantin from his cell, this would be my last class at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy.

As Cole and I analyzed a position involving the knight and bishop checkmate, I came to a realization that the chessboard was much a metaphor for our current situation.

My team was the king, and Katt and the other staff at this school were the king, knight and bishop of the other side. Us, the helpless black king, were forced to defend ourselves in carrying out this plan.

Despite the fact that it might have seemed hopeless, it helped to think about it this way. At least, one way or another, it would all end tonight. The last month and a half had been very surreal indeed, but the fact remained that I was ready to move on. I'd still never gotten to wear any color uniform other than purple and turquoise, but maybe we would end up someplace else where things were organized differently.

And yet, there were some things I would miss from here. The great food, for instance, although that had ended as soon as we had been forced to leave the original school location. The flight simulators were fun to use when you weren't spun around to the point of unconsciousness. And I would never forget the camaraderie that I had felt with Fox as we sat in that icy sphere in that mountain.

But then I remembered Konstantin, and all the trouble that had caused. Certainly, that much might not have been worth it.

Well, tonight was our chance to make that right.

* * *

Later, at lunch, I found myself sitting with the group of Willow, Seventy-Four, Will, Mike, Cole, and myself. The same group that would be making the dangerous escape attempt tonight.

It was reassuring, seeing all of us together, partly because it meant that we had all survived our lessons without anyone calling us out for acting suspiciously. At the same time, I knew that we had had so many casual lunches at this school, and it was now going to come to an end.

From December 13 to February 2, 201X to 201Y, I had lived and trained with these people. However, I had a strong feeling that this was the end of an era for me. I needed to move on to bigger and greater things in order to help the war effort.

I still hadn't figured out how to get back to my own dimension, either. However, I increasingly found that I didn't really want to. In this futuristic version of existence, life had probably been extended a lot. Of course, that might not matter if I got killed in battle, but I was stuck here. I might as well work to help with winning the war against the Anglars.

I felt the scar on my leg from where I had been bitten by the Anglar. It didn't hurt me anymore, but it was still visible even if it was pink and slightly scabbing over. Dr. Howler told me that it would likely remain there for weeks if not months, and I'd just need to be patient and keep waiting. If it didn't heal, it might get covered up by some new battle scar.

I also felt a very significant brotherhood with all of these people. We had all come from very different walks of life back at home, but we did have one thing in common: We had all been captured and sent here against our will.

And, tonight, we would all be doing something that could end our journey.

* * *

 **DR. HOWLER'S POV**

I spent the afternoon of January 27 stocking the med bay of the Great Fox. You never could be too prepared for anything, only not prepared enough.

After seeing the footage of Konstantin, I concluded that he had most likely not had much water to drink over those four days in the cell, if at all. I'd try to get him to drink some once he was back in our grasp, but I didn't know what condition he would be in.

I had plenty of bandages ready in order to treat any wounds that he might have gotten during his time in the cell, whether it be from the tightness of the chains on his wrists and ankles or from being beaten by the guards. No doubt, he would probably be beaten again before he was carted off to his execution...if we didn't get to him first.

There was one good thing about this job, though. It was something that I was perfectly entitled to be doing, since it was my job to stock the Great Fox with medical supplies. They just didn't know that I, as well as several students, including Konstantin Brockenbough, would be escaping in it. They would just think that my motivations for doing this were entirely altruistic. They'd never know that I had an agenda, which was to stop an innocent young man from being executed by firing squad.

Luckily, the Great Fox med bay had an operating room, with holograms that I was able to practice on. Even though I had gone through years of medical school (I had to, in order to be the matron of the school), it never hurt to be able to hone my skills on patients whose lives I wouldn't be risking.

I practiced IV starts, stopping bleeding, and even surgeries. There was no way to know that he wouldn't have any internal bleeding, so we would have to figure that out first. There was a very advanced X-ray machine that could be used to tell if this was the case.

I could only hope that this would all be put to use. And it was ironic, really.

That first time I saw Lucas, after he had lost consciousness in the flight simulator, I had told him that I hoped not to see him again. It wasn't that I didn't like the guy, it was just that I didn't want him to have another medical scare.

As to whether we were going to be able to save Konstantin...it was a wing and a prayer. We needed more time, really. And this was a big deal, so it wasn't wing and a prayer. It was a _wing and a scare._ Yes, that was what it was.

* * *

Later that afternoon, I met with Mrs. Hooter once again. We were both in the hangar, and that owl was using places on the wall as archery targets. Maybe she was practicing too. Or maybe, she just needed to be shooting in order to think straight.

For the sake of my own sanity, I chose to believe the latter. If I couldn't trust the archery instructor, that would throw yet another wrench in our plans.

"So...you're still game tonight?" she asked me.

In response, I held up the package of the sedative liquid. It could be taken by mouth, injected, or literally _shot_ into a person with an arrow. Luckily, the arrows didn't cause much pain or damage after a person regained consciousness.

"Just dip the arrows in those, and they'll become effective. Like you did with Konstantin in Texas. They'll be out long enough for us to run away with the boy".

"How long do the sedatives last?" Mrs. Hooter asked me. I was glad that I knew the answer to that question.

"That depends on the size of the target. For something like a husky, something muscular, one to three hours. For something smaller, it might be anywhere from four to seven hours".

"This should be more than enough. We've got a stretcher, right?" she asked me.

"Yes, we've got a stretcher. Konstantin might have lost a lot of weight in that cell, but he's not going to be an easy burden to bear without one. This is our best chance to get him out of there within that one-hour time frame. Because you _know_ those guards are going to be top-of-the-line in terms of strength".

"I'll make fifty of those" Mrs. Hooter said. "My quiver is going to be _overflowing,_ but it's all worth it".

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

I thought back to the last time I had been trusted to go on such a dangerous mission.

We hadn't defused the bomb in time, and I'd ended up trapped under hundreds of feet of snow and ice. After I'd stupidly allowed myself to fall asleep, it had taken specialized digging equipment and heated IV fluids to get me awake again. And I'd been barred from many of my classes for a week.

This mission might not have been to save as many people as the last one. This time, though, I _knew_ the person we were trying to save. Granted, I was still not _too_ familiar with Konstantin Brockenbough, but I knew that I didn't want him to die for a crime he had not committed. That just wouldn't be fair.

After dinner, I made sure that the six of us were together and whispering about our plans. We were out of earshot of everyone else, so they wouldn't catch onto us and put a last-minute stop to our plans.

We pretended to go to sleep, but as soon as we felt confident that the vast majority, if not all, of the other students were asleep, I knew it was time to get my troops in order.

None of the other five students had succumbed to sleep yet, so that was something I was very grateful for. We could just get up and run.

At least, that was what I _hoped_ would happen.

* * *

Seventy-Four appeared to have some misgivings about the plan. As soon as we had gotten out of the huge common room that everyone slept in, he tugged on my arm. I couldn't see his eyes behind his gas mask, but I knew that I had rarely, if ever, heard him speak.

"What is it, Seventy-Four?" I hissed at him as quietly as I could while trying to make it clear how pissed off I was.

"Don't call me that anymore" he said gruffly.

"Why not?" I asked. "I thought you liked being called that".

"Well, I don't" he said. And, before I could say anything else, he took off his gas mask.

* * *

It was equivalent to the scene in the _South Park_ movie when Kenny reveals his real face. I had become so accustomed to seeing Seventy-Four with just a gas mask on that I could never have imagined what his real face looked like.

He had curly blonde hair, a lot lighter than mine, which was more brown than anything. He had turquoise eyes, fairly similar to mine.

And yet...there was a certain look to him that told me that he was on the autism spectrum, like myself. Maybe he hadn't gotten the therapy I had, not had the same chances.

Ever since I was little, I remembered going to all sorts of therapists. Occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy were sometimes my after-school activities when I was younger. For the longest time, I had a difficult time saying my R sounds. This didn't necessarily isolate me from my classmates too much, though, although I remembered one occasion on which I had been made to stand on one foot for thirty seconds. It took me a good ten or twenty tries.

Looking at Seventy-Four now, he was a few inches shorter than I was. I'm not the most muscular guy, but I could tell that he was in lesser shape than me. His arms looked like they had never lifted anything heavier than a pillow.

"What do you think of how I look?" he asked. There was definitely a certain tone to his voice that I just _knew_ he was autistic. His voice sounded almost childish in a way.

I didn't know how to respond. He sure sounded so much younger than he really was. He was probably fifteen or sixteen, like the rest of us, but he sure didn't seem to be acting like it.

"My real name is Ian, by the way. Maybe later, I'll tell you why I went by Seventy-Four. But this is a crucial mission! Let's go!"

* * *

At the top of the underground hallway, we met up with the teachers. Falco, Mrs. Hooter, and Dr. Howler were all waiting at the top, presumably for us.

Falco was holding his blaster. He wasn't intending to use it, not wanting to kill any guards unnecessarily, but if need be he could use it as a club.

Mrs. Hooter had a quiver full of what must have been fifty arrows attached to a belt around her waist. She had one nocked, but thankfully it wasn't pointed at us. Had it been, I don't know if I could have trusted her anymore. I could only hope that she had already dipped them into the sedative that had been used on us when we were taken here.

As for Dr. Howler, she was dressed in her usual labcoat, so clean and tidy that it could have been ironed while she was wearing it. She was carrying a long red stretcher, which she was carrying like a shield right now. If necessary, she might be able to use it as a weapon, but she had to avoid getting blood on it as much as possible, since that was how we were going to carry Konstantin.

"Are you guys ready?" she asked us. The six of us students nodded, and so, Mrs. Hooter in the lead, we proceeded down the underground hallway.

* * *

The reason Mrs. Hooter was in the front was because she was the one with the arrows, which we would be using to knock out all of the guards. She was therefore the first line of defense against them. Falco was right behind her, because he did have his blaster if the need to use it did arise. Then came four of the students, with Willow, Dr. Howler, and myself bringing up the rear. I had to be careful not to get bonked by the stretcher.

The tunnel sloped gently downward, and it was just as creepy as it had been the first time. It didn't matter that it was night, there was the perpetual illumination brought by the light fixture attached to the wall. I didn't know if it was enough to read in, but that wasn't what mattered right now.

I couldn't speak for everyone else in the group, but I definitely did get the sense that I was getting swallowed by the mountain. Much like Konstantin, I might very well never see the sun again if I was captured.

Ian, without his gas mask, looked just as scared as I felt. I was glad that Falco, Mrs. Hooter, and Dr. Howler had recognized him, since he looked so different without his usual attire on. He looked paranoid about a lot of things, but he kept on with the rest of us, which was another thing I was very grateful for. We needed as many people as possible.

We went down what I estimated as one story, then two, then three...just when I felt like we had gone halfway down the ten levels to Konstantin's cell, I saw someone in front of me. The others might have already noticed him, but I jogged to the front of the group, my very long legs helping me to catch up.

I got in front, and I saw that it was a guard. A very burly Great Dane was standing in the middle, holding up a blaster just in case. I knew that we had gotten his attention based on the angry expression that he wore on his face, as if to say _How dare you! You don't need to save Konstantin!_

"Lucas, out of the way!" I heard Mrs. Hooter shout.

I was too shocked. I mean, I had expected there to be guards. But _actually seeing one_ in front of us was something else entirely. My brain did not process the archery instructor's shout.

She shoved me to the side before shooting an arrow that she had nocked. In front of me, I saw the Great Dane collapse to the ground.

I rose to my feet, shaking the dust off my pajama pants. "What was _that_ for?"

Mrs. Hooter looked at me sternly. "I didn't want to shoot you on accident, so you gave me no choice but to push you out of the way. Don't need to use the sedative on the wrong person!"

Then, addressing the rest of the group, she said "Be careful. You want to keep your guard up, because there could be any number of guards here before we reach the prisoner's cell. Let's get a move on now, guys!"

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

After the encounter with the first guard, we were all becoming paranoid that there might be others who tried to fight us. Granted, the first one had been absolutely _pathetic_ , but there would no doubt be more reinforcements towards the cell on the tenth sublevel.

I'd broken into enough buildings to know that you didn't want to get the attention of the people there, and it was best to only use violence if necessary to get out of a tough situation.

Still, though, I had Lucas beside me. I had Falco, Dr. Howler, Mrs. Hooter, Willow, Mike, Will, and Ian beside me as well. The closer we got to where I assumed the cell would be, the more confident I got that we had a shot.

I heard a blaster fire, and I only just got out of the way of the green line. Instead, it caused a small part of the wall to begin smoking.

It turned out that a guard in front of us had fired the shot. This guy looked _very_ buff, more like a wolf than anything. It wasn't O'Donnell, though. It must have been some other wolf.

I looked at Falco, standing right in front of me. He was about a foot taller than me, but our eyes locked with each other's, and we both said, in unison, "Let's take him on!"

* * *

We charged at him together, but he was fast. He managed to duck out of the way, preventing Falco from hitting him. I was providing backup for Falco, though.

Almost immediately, it became clear that the two of us made a good team when working on getting this guy. From trying to avoid all of our punches, he was fast becoming confused. It was all he could do to dodge.

Finally, Falco managed to land a hit to his stomach, bowling him off his feet and onto the ground. The wolf tried to get up, but I leapt over to him and held him down.

At the same time, I saw Mrs. Hooter shoot her arrow into the chest of the wolf. It took only a few seconds before his eyes fluttered shut, and his grip relaxed in Falco's, whom he'd been trying to grab in a chokehold.

I had always known how perilous this was going to be. However, it had never really hit home quite like this. That guard had tried to _kill_ us.

"Let's try not to get hung up _too_ much, guys" Dr. Howler said. "The sedatives will only last for an hour or two. Ideally, we'd be out of here before _any_ of them have regained consciousness".

"Good idea" Will said, echoing the doctor, as well as my thoughts.

With that, Willow, Lucas, and the rest of us continued down the tunnel, until we were assaulted by the sight of ten more guards.

* * *

We didn't have a game plan. Falco and I did work well together, but it was unlikely that we could take all ten of them. They were all spreading apart, trying to make it difficult.

Just when I thought we might not be able to pull this one out, Dr. Howler, with all the agility of a Bengal tiger (which she was), swept forward.

Her claws might have been enough, but she wasn't pulling any punches. She swung the stretcher like a baseball bat, and it resonated with a _crack_ like a whip as it hit one of the guards in the head.

Now, though, they were going _away_ from Dr. Howler. The guards could be too fast for us to catch, so it was up to our ranged weapons. While Falco and I had already shown our prowess in melee combat, I didn't know if anyone else would be able to do it.

"Will! Can you fight?" I called to the black boy.

"Yeah. For the streets in Louisiana, my parents taught me all sorts of techniques. Let's do this!"

He went out swinging with something resembling a karate move, and managed to get the guard in the groin. It was a small victory, as there were still eight others. I had heard Mrs. Hooter shoot the first guard that Dr. Howler had hit in the head with the stretcher, as well as the guard that Will had just knocked down. That second arrow had barely avoiding hitting Will himself.

Mike and Ian didn't seem to be doing much to help, preferring to cower in the back. But that might have been okay, because we were managing to kick these guys' asses just the same. We were going to get this done, I was sure of it.

Another one got shot by Mrs. Hooter, making it seven left. A second later, I heard the sound of another arrow piercing the flesh.

Six left.

Willow was doing the best she could, which wasn't much. It was obvious that she was untrained in fighting techniques, even though she had gone to numerous fighting lessons with Wolf O'Donnell. Even so, she managed to kick one guard in the leg. This wasn't nothing.

"I've still got...forty-one arrows left!" Mrs. Hooter yelled. "We're gonna do this!"

I knew that the archery instructor was a very good shot, but we were depending on her now. If we could get past this swarm of guards, we might be right next to Konstantin.

We took a fifth one down, but that was when it happened.

* * *

I felt something pierce my shoulder, and then the pain. Was there blood?

And then, I saw the source. One of the five remaining guards, a dog, had sunk his teeth in there. It hurt like a bitch, let me tell you that.

Dr. Howler, luckily, didn't make a fuss about it. She was too focused on the task at hand, using the stretcher as a shield against the lasers. It would still be strong enough to carry Konstantin if it took a shot or two, but probably not much more than that. Dr. Howler seemed to be aware of this, because she focused more on dodging than blocking.

Lucas, with an uppercut to the jaw of a guard, left Mrs. Hooter open to shoot the arrow into him. Barely allowing himself a moment of congratulation, he got another one, and Mrs. Hooter backed him up on that.

Three left.

Falco, with a roundhouse kick, got another guard. He pulled his leg away before the guard, also a tiger, could sink his teeth into it, and the owl archer shot the guard, who then sank into unconsciousness.

Two left.

Dr. Howler went out swinging once again with the stretcher, getting the guard to duck to avoid getting his skull bashed in. With another blow, the panther was knocked off his feet. Mrs. Hooter took the opportunity to sink the arrow into his boot. Luckily, the arrows did pierce through clothing.

One left.

And Lucas and Willow, teaming up, approached him on both sides, each putting as much pressure on the guard as possible. As it turned out, the Battle Tactics with the chessboard seemed to have been handy for them, because this was clearly where they were drawing some of their skills from.

Lucas pulled so hard on the left arm that I could hear the bone crack. This shocked me. **I'd never known Lucas to have such brute strength.** He was tall, yes, but he was also rather skinny, and didn't have too much muscle on his arms. Also, he'd just done it like it was nothing.

Of course, that was also a good thing, because without Lucas and Willow, the arrow could not have hit the last guard so cleanly.

* * *

"We did it, guys!" Ian said excitedly in his childish, slightly recalcitrant-sounding tone.

Looking around the room, I saw that Ian was right. All ten guards were unconscious from the sedative, and probably would be for forty-five minutes at the very least. That should give us more than enough time to get Konstantin back up...assuming we were at the right place.

"Let's go in, guys" Dr. Howler said.

And with that, we opened a small door that we had found. It was only locked from the inside, as it turned out. Anyone on the outside could open it, which was maybe a design flaw.

Luckily, it worked out in our favor.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

I was trying to fall asleep again when the area outside my cell began to get rather loud. I didn't know what was going on, I just wanted them to stop making such a _racket._ All I wanted was to sleep until my execution. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently so, because the guards might be doing this just to punish me for something I didn't do. If so, I was going to be flipping them off, and maybe doing something else inappropriate, as well as yelling a few choice words at them before they shot me to death.

Not like I could do anything about it, though. The sound was deafening, and it sounded like a fight was going on. Was someone trying to rescue me? That didn't make sense; any rescue mission would likely be suicide. They wouldn't be able to bust me out without being busted out of this life, either.

I didn't really care too much at this point, though. My chains had continued to dig into my ankles and wrists, causing more pain and irritation. The fatigue and dehydration were killing me, quite literally. If they didn't shoot me to death, I would be dehydrated enough to die within a day or two, tops.

I was already mentally checked out of this life. I was getting ready to beg to any God that might exist, saying that I was agnostic because I had never gotten the evidence that I had needed in order to believe. Maybe He or She would be just enough to forgive me. If not, then there was nothing that I could do.

I closed my eyes once again, trying to finally slide back into the black oblivion, when the noise stopped.

This was unusual. I had grown so accustomed to the noise that the lack of it suddenly caused me to feel a little more alert. I was still pretty groggy from the dehydration, but I was able to tell that, if there had been fighting, it had stopped. It was quiet...almost _too_ quiet, if there was such a thing.

No matter. I heard my door open, and my heart rate spiked.

Standing before me were the nine people I had least expected to see: Dr. Howler, Mrs. Hooter, Falco Lombardi, Michael Kirk, William Wexford, Seventy-Four (or at least, what he might look like without the mask), Cole McCallen, Willow Foster, and Lucas Enfield. They had come for me.

"Konstantin! You're alive!" Willow said enthusiastically, running over to me.

I nodded, showing them that I was still alive. I couldn't do much more than that.

Dr. Howler ran up to me in her labcoat, feeling my forehead.

"He seems a little warm to me, but maybe he's just dehydrated. Let's get him up there".

Falco shot at the chains with his blaster, causing them to fall away into the ground. I managed to see that they had carried a stretcher with them, so I managed to get onto it and, as I was strapped in, I was finally able to drift off, exhausted from so long in that dark, dank cell.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

As Konstantin fell asleep on the stretcher, Dr. Howler told Cole and me to grab either end of it. We would carry him back up to the Great Fox, where we would allow Dr. Howler to take care of him in the med bay.

"The way up may or may not be easier than the way down" the doctor said. "No more guards, they should still be out cold, but Konstantin is kind of heavy".

She wasn't kidding. It was plain that the youth had lost a decent amount of weight, but he wasn't an easy burden. It was clear that the chains had caused lacerations on his wrists and ankles, which would have made it painful for him to walk. Hence the stretcher.

We passed more unconscious guards, none of whom stirred as we passed them. Which was good, because we needed to be able to sneak back up. Without the stretcher as a weapon, we would be far more vulnerable.

Thankfully, that never happened. We reached the top and walked through the still-sleeping school to the hangar.

There it was. The Great Fox was still there and still intact. And soon, we would be flying away in it.

* * *

 **DR. HOWLER'S POV**

Konstantin was still asleep, so there was little fuss as I carried him into the med bay.

The first thing I did was to check his wrists and ankles. I rubbed some ointment onto them, and hopefully that would help. I also hoped that he would be able to get up soon, so that he could help improve circulation in those parts of his body. It would really help him recover faster.

There were no other cuts or bruises that I could see, so I decided to move on to the next stage of my examination.

As I was feeling his skin, to see if he was likely to be dehydrated, I felt a jolt from beneath my feet. It was the Great Fox taking to the skies. We flew out of the hangar, and soon we were high above the green fields of Corneria. They had never looked so beautiful, even as someone who had lived on Corneria for my entire life.

Anyway...back to the task. Pinching his skin, I noticed that it took quite some time for it to bounce back to normal after that. This confirmed my suspicions: The youth had been withheld water for the last four days, meaning that he had a textbook case of severe dehydration.

Only one thing to do now. I grabbed a needle and started an IV in Konstantin's left arm. Hanging the bag above him, I watched it begin to drip into his bloodstream.

Konstantin was going to be just fine.

* * *

After I was done, I briefly walked away from the med bay to give an announcement to the others.

Lucas, Cole, Willow, Will, Mike, and Ian were all in the rec room of the ship. I was sure that Falco and Mrs. Hooter were both aware of what was going on.

"I have an announcement to make regarding Konstantin" I said. That sure got their attention.

"Konstantin is currently resting in the med bay. He is asleep, and I would like to keep it that way until he wakes up on his own. I've treated his wounds and we're rehydrating him right now. I must implore you not to disturb him, because he needs rest. You can talk to him later".

All six students nodded, and I was glad that I had just gotten them all to obey.

I went back to med bay, where I continued to watch over Konstantin.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

My eyes opened slowly. I was so tired, and yet...I felt quite a bit better than I had back there.

Then, I was finally able to take in my surroundings. I was lying in what appeared to be a hospital bed, somewhere. It definitely looked like a medical room to be sure, except that there was nothing but space behind me.

What _was_ going on?

And then I remembered: Was this the afterlife? I'd been sentenced to execution...and then the others had come and saved me. That was great to know.

Someone, probably Dr. Howler, had stuck a drip in my left arm. That could have been why I felt a little more clearheaded now. This begged the question...where was Dr. Howler now?

She was in a chair next to my bed, watching over me. She seemed to have fallen asleep.

I tried to wake her up, saying "Dr. Howler?". But my throat felt like it was lined with sand, so it came out as more of a rasp.

She woke up, my voice clearly having gotten her attention.

"Hey, Konstantin. I see you're awake. How are you doing?"

"I feel a lot better now. Thanks. Could I please have something to drink? I'm _so_ thirsty, like you wouldn't believe".

"Sure. Sorry that I fell asleep on you. I'll go get you some water".

She went over to the bubbler and got a glass of water together. She helped me sit up in order to drink it, and I gulped it down. This made my throat feel a lot better.

"So...where are we now? What happened?" I asked. I knew some of the answers, but not all of them.

"After you were strapped into the stretcher, Cole and Lucas carried you back up the path to the Great Fox, where we got you in the med bay. That's what's going on right now. We're about eight hours out to space from Corneria. By Falco's estimates, it should be about five days until we get to Fichina, which is where we are going next?"

"Why are we going to Fichina?" I asked, feeling the water make my vocal cords moist again.

"There's another military base there, that can house us for a while. You see, we're on the run right now. After all, you _are_ a death row prisoner. Or at least, were".

This made me feel a little guilty. The way Dr. Howler said it, it sounded like it was my fault that we were forced to go away from Corneria.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. Really, it was well worth it. We all know that you're innocent, and, besides, I never knew anything other than Corneria. It really is nice to get to see more of the Lylat System. Speaking of which, your friends are just outside, and they'll be glad to hear that you woke up. Do you want to see them?"

I nodded. "Sure. Except I want to walk over there myself, if that's fine".

Dr. Howler looked at me with a shocked expression. "Okay. Just see if your legs will hold you first, and **do not** pull a Katniss Everdeen".

I must have looked at her with a confused expression, because she said, "That means don't pull your IV out. She does that a lot in the Hunger Games books".

She helped me get out of bed, and my legs, while they felt fairly shaky, managed to support me. I was able to, leaning on the pole for support, make my way out of med bay into the next room.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

As the door to the med bay opened, I looked at Cole's shoulder, which had been dressed very thoroughly. I hadn't asked him yet how he was feeling, but I could assume that it might still be sore or itchy. I wasn't going to press him about that, though.

And out walked Konstantin. He was wearing a new pair of glasses (his old ones had been confiscated before his execution, Dr. Howler had told me) that the doctor had made for him. He was also in far cleaner clothes, but it was plain to see that he had definitely suffered from his ordeal. He was a good deal thinner, and he was leaning heavily on his IV stand for support.

Still, though, seeing the young man alive and conscious was a very good feeling. He looked kind of like a king, with an IV pole for a staff. In that moment, I had seen that we had succeeded in our mission.

"Hey, guys" Konstantin said, his voice sounding loud and clear.

"Konstantin! I'm so happy to see you!" Willow said, jumping out of her chair and giving the now-rescued prisoner a hug.

I didn't want to see them get too close, since Willow was my girlfriend. I tried not to get too jealous, but still.

In any case, she eventually pulled out of the hug, with Konstantin patting her on the back with his free hand.

"So...what's the game plan?" Cole asked. "We just left Corneria, and so where are we going next? Fichina?"

"Yeah" Falco said. Evidently, he had left the Great Fox on autopilot while he came over here to talk with us. Right now, that wouldn't cause problems, but once we reached the asteroid belt...let's just say that we'll need to be on constant guard.

"It'll take five days to get there" Konstantin said. "That's what Dr. Howler told me. And then we'll stay at their military base, where I'm sure they'll be fine with putting us up".

Mrs. Hooter looked at Konstantin as if he was being foolishly hopeful, which I wasn't sure whether or not that was the case. But one thing was for certain; we were going to the ice planet.

"And then what?" Ian asked. "It's not like we have too much of a plan".

"That's true" Dr. Howler said. "But we're going to help with the war effort as much as possible, so that Konstantin may be pardoned eventually. And so that...well, we can help".

Konstantin's eyes went wide. "You never told me that...".

He got himself together to say what came next. "With this in my arm", he said, gesturing to the IV, "I can't do jack. Are you sure that you want me to...".

"You'll be staying in the med bay tonight, Konstantin. In the morning, though, you can go. You should be fine, just take it a little easy until we reach Fichina. After that, you should be fully back to normal. Are you okay with that?"

"I am" Konstantin said.

We all turned to look outside the window. The green and blue planet of Corneria was receding behind us, and we could just make out Fichina, a pretty little white planet. The only question was whether or not it would still _be_ pretty once we were there.

What came ahead was going to be hard. It was going to be dangerous. It was going to test all of us, whether we liked it or not.

And yet...it would also be a very great adventure. We'd get to see more of this alternate dimension. And, with so many wrong things that had been going on lately, we would have the chance to get something _right._

But none of that mattered at the moment. The reason?

It was time for lunch.

* * *

After lunch, we found a video recorder on the Great Fox. With Dr. Howler's permission, we all took turns telling the story. We're going to post it on YouTube so that all of you can know what happened on that fateful day. I'm sure that you wanted to see our side of the story, so you got it.

This has been Lucas Zantry Enfield, and I will tell you more later.

 **THE END**

* * *

 **And that is a wrap! Wing And A Scare is officially over, and this story is, in terms of word count, longer than either of the first two Harry Potter books. For a sixteen-year-old, that's not too bad, right?**

 **So this story is done, but don't worry, this isn't the end. I am writing a sequel called Attack Of The Anglars. It was originally going to be called American Mercenaries, and I wrote the first four chapters under that impression. Ultimately, however, I decided that it was just too cheesy of a title, so I changed it. I'm hoping that it gains more reviews than this one.**

 **I would like to thank the following people for the characters.**

 **Konstantin: Given to me by Zaravan. At first, I was a bit weirded out by the fact that he has such a long first name. It might get tiring to type a ten-letter first name that many times. However, I soon fell in love with his character. I loved the way he just flipped off the Cornerian flag while singing a Bruce Springsteen song, and how he was so patriotic to his own nation in a time of war. However, he will have to be more careful in the future, because it nearly cost him his life. Rest assured that when he gets well, however, Konstantin is going to have a score to settle!**

 **Cole: Given to me by Singlewave. As you know, he gave me the winning tribute in Lorax, Paolina. I think that Cole has a very good backstory, much like Piper McLean from the Heroes Of Olympus series, in that he used to do bad things, but is now looking for a shot at redemption. Needless to say, Cole is going to play a big role in the sequel as well!**

 **Ian: He has a lot of potential. He was given to me by Cosmicsafe74, whom I am fast becoming friends with. I can see him bonding with Lucas, both having Asperger's. He's not going to be wearing his gas mask, either. In this story, he was kind of just there, but he will be in the next one a lot more.**

 **Willow: Given to me by Peytonhungergameshaymitch. I hope she does come back, but if she doesn't, I still enjoyed writing for Willow. The character of Willow is not going away anytime soon. You can expect more romance in the next story.**

 **All other characters belong to me. I would next like to thank all of those submitters individually.**

 **Firstly, Zaravan. He does not really use his favorites list, but he says that if he did, he would have me on it. I would again love to thank him for Konstantin Brockenbough, and he has become a friend of mine. Zaravan, I hope that you continue to follow my stories after this, because the next one will have a LOT of Konstantin.**

 **Next, Singlewave. I've been on his favorites list ever since I told him that his tribute was going to win. I'm thankful that he submitted Cole, and thankful that he has been reviewing. He might be busy with school right now, but I would still like to thank him for everything.**

 **Cosmicsafe74: You are the BEST! We have become very good friends, corresponding regularly. He's even subscribed to my Youtube channel, and has told me that I have a very deep voice. Personally, I don't think my voice is that deep, but he seems to digress. He's another person who doesn't really write stories and only reads them. To be honest, I've been trying to read more fanfiction lately as opposed to just writing, but to paraphrase a song by Billy Talent, it's a flower in a field of weeds. I wonder if you can tell me what that song is called, because it WILL be in the next story.**

 **Peytonhungergameshaymitch: I will never forget how I inspired her to write. She was writing it all from her phone, but I still see potential in everyone I might inspire. After all, it's crazy that it has only been eight months since I was influenced by Talkingbirdguy.**

 **Talkingbirdguy (even though he hasn't submitted a character to this story): I can thank you the whole world over. You're the one who inspired me all those months ago. Seeing that there was an online novel called Curse Of The Lucario was crazy, and I enjoyed every minute of it and the sequel, The Return Of The Cursed Gift. People, YOU'VE GOT TO READ THOSE STORIES! THEY ARE TERRIFIC!**

 **In any case, I will come out with the first chapter of American Mercenaries one week from today, January 31. At the moment, I am FAR ahead, on Chapter 6. I'm planning a trilogy, so we're in it for the long haul. But you guys have been with me every step of the way so far.**

 **Updates for that story will be every five days, just because chapters for that will attempt to be longer, mostly within the 4,000-7,000-word range. I highly look forward to it.**

 **And, with that, this story has come to an end. This is SnowLucario, looking forward to a new beginning of the next story.**


End file.
